The Archery Skill
by Posiden666
Summary: It's SAO. But different. Sinon, a unique skill, an OC, and something completely unexpected happens. Rated T: Fairly mild suggestive themes, Aggressive hand-holding, Violence, and The usual physical abuse of Kirito by girls. If you like Sinon x Kirito, or you want Sinon to be in SAO, this is the story for you. (It gets progressively better in writing quality)
1. The Beginning

**Warning: **Yes, this is a **Sinon** X **Kirito** fic. If this makes you uncomfortable **TURN BACK NOW!**

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 1: The Beginning

* * *

"Bye Kazuto," Suguah yelled to her brother as she rushed off to kendo practice, "Tell mom I'll be home for dinner"

Kazuto looked out the window at the rolling hills of sand, the broken streets and the burned out buildings. He saw his sister running hurriedly through the gate in the cracked cement wall of their front yard. There were only three minutes left until the official launch of the most anticipated game of the decade: Sword Art Online. SAO was the first non-demo game developed for the revolutionary virtual reality controller NerveGear, and best of all, it was an MMO. Kazuto put on the futuristic looking greyish-gold helmet and waited anxiously to return to Aincrad. Soon would be the end of the months of waiting; he could once again immerse himself in that virtual world and pretend he never had to return… 3…2…1…"LINK START!"

* * *

She stared at the helmet coldly. She hoped she had finally found the answer, a way to pretend, a way to travel to a place where no one knew what she had done, where no one would take advantage of her fear, where no one would fear her for what she had done, and where no one would know who she was. It was 12:59 she put on the NerveGear wishing for a new life… "LINK START!"

* * *

Kirito looked around. The scene was familiar. It was the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings. Players were everywhere, gawking at the VR they had never before experienced, and making conversation. He didn't particularly like people, all they did was get in his way and take his loot. They were annoying.

Kirito ran as fast as his AGI would let him, he wanted to get the good farming spots before they were all gone. He was suddenly stopped by another player, it was a man with pink hair, "Hey, can you help me? You look like you know where you're going; are you a beta tester?"

He looked nice enough, Kirito sighed he was probably going to be less of an annoyance if Kirito helped him rather than turning him down, and it seemed unlikely that one player could slow him down too much. He decided to help. "Kirito," He told the other player, "And you are?"

"The name's Klein," He said, extending a hand. Kirito shook it loosely.

* * *

"We should get going," Kirito said, "I know a good hunting spot just west of here." They jogged together, to the boar fields. The first boar came into view, Kirito motioned for Klein to slow down, "Okay, show me what you can do." Kirito said. The boar charged at Klein, who weakly batted at it with his sword, causing a single point of damage, but it continued its charge, unfazed by Klein's attempts to hurt it, rammed the man in the crotch. Klein fell to the ground clutching his groin and howling.

"Dude, you can't feel pain in this game," Kirito sighed.

The man looked into the distance for a second, then looked down, removing his hands. "Huh. You're right. I guess it's just a reflex."

Kirito planted his foot on the boar's head, preventing it from attacking him and said "You have to pause slightly before your swing and when you feel the skill start to activate just let it explode."

"Explode?" The man muttered to himself. Kirito released the boar which charged at Klein, he brought his sword over his shoulder and closed his eyes for a second. He felt it! Beginning a downward slash, he saw his sword glowing pink. Then he dashed forward and slashed through the boar, turning it into nothing more than a cloud of polygons. "YEAH!" He yelled excited at his first kill.

"Congrats," Kirito said sarcastically "That pig's about as tough as slimes are in other games"

"What? I thought it was a mid-level boss."

"Ha. No you wanna go hunt some more?"

"Heck yeah!"

After a few more hours of hunting they sat, looking at the sunset discussing how great it was to live in this time. Klein had to go, Kirito recalled that he had said something about a pizza. "Hey Kirito-san?" He asked

"Yeah,"

"There's no logout button"

"Sure there is it's right here…" He trailed off looking at the empty spot that it should be, "It's gone," A bell began tolled in the distance, "A force teleport," Kirito said, "Interesting."

* * *

**Attention, players. Welcome to my world.**

**"**My world?" Kirito asked to himself.

**My name is Kayaba Akihiko. At the moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu.**

Sinon stared at the game master in horror. Her hands were shaking, she swiped open the menu but the logoff button was gone; there was a place for it, but it was empty.

**But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat… This is not a defect in the game. This is a feature of Sword Art Online**

"A-a feature?" Klein asked, astonished.

**You cannot log out of SAO yourselves and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life.**

Sinon felt her knees give out and she sank to the ground; it felt as if someone had a gun to her head.

Klein remarked to Kirito about how crazy this was, but everything Kayaba had just said was true.

**Unfortunately, several players and their families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world.**

Asuna heard exclamations of disbelief from the crowd around her but she just stared blankly forward trying to wake herself from this terrible nightmare - it didn't work. The GM pulled up several news feeds which hovered around him displaying covered bodies and crying families.

**As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths.**

Kirito's mind flashed to his aunt and 'sister' he had to find a way to get out, for Suguha.

**Thus, you can assume the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly: there is no longer a method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain.**

This last sentence was burned into all the players' minds: there were no respawns.

**There is only one means of escape: to complete the game. Currently on Aincrad you are on the lowest floor, floor one. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game.**

There were more cries of disbelief and anger from the crowd.

**Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.**

All the players slid open their menus and into their inventories, only to find a [Mirror], everyone began inspecting them to see what was so special about a mirror.

The entire plaza started to glow in a white light. Sinon was about to take out her own mirror until several shrieks from some of the other players made her stop and look around; she saw that the other player's avatars were changing to what she could only assume was what they looked like in real life. She didn't use it. After all, as Sinon she was fearless and strong, but as herself she was scared and weak; plus she liked her blue hair.

**Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?" My goal has already been achieved. I created sword art online for one reason… To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete.**

Kirito looked in disdain at the avatar of the man he had once praised.

**This ends the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Good luck players.**

* * *

There was chaos in the plaza. Kirito knew what he had to, he grabbed Klein's wrist and ran he ran as if his life depended on it "What are you doing?" Klein asked, stopping them in an alley.

"We need to leave, we need to get ahead of everyone else, so we can survive." Klein's look alone told Kirito he couldn't come with him; he probably had friends. Kirito understood and was gone.

She had to get away, as far from this place as possible. She was on the verge of crying and throwing up, but the game only allowed one of those actions. Her vision was blurry with unfallen tears but she ran through the alleys towards the fields. She wiped her eyes and at that moment something got in her way and she ran into it. She fell to the ground and felt a searing pain in her head as it made contact with the ground; apparently Kayaba had turned off the pain inhibitors. The thing she had run into was a person but she couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. She let out a few more sobs the urge to cry becoming too hard to restrain. The person crawled over to her, "Are you okay?" They asked. It was a boy she thought. She wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself, "Yes I'm fine." She said coldly, not looking whoever it was in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I should've looked where I was going, I didn't mean to run into you..." She peered at the person with one eye and looked him over, he was about her age, with a somewhat feminine face, black hair, and deep purple eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt and leather armor, like everyone, and he had a short sword strapped to his back; he had a hand extended in an attempt to help her up. With some effort and pain she managed to stand up on her own.

"Well I think you owe me for being so oblivious and running into me," she said "show me where the best hunting spots are and we'll be even. I'm Sinon by the way; I thought I ought to tell you since it seems we'll be working together."

"Oh, I'm Kirito, Pleased to meet you Sinon-san."

They were walking along a path out of the city; there was no one else around. Most of the other players were probably still in the town of beginnings panicking. She had light blue hair with black ribbons tied on either side: she was wearing a white shirt and black leather armor with a green jacket and very short black shorts. She didn't have a sword instead she had a dagger on each side of her waist sheaths attached to a grey belt, a couple throwing needles in a band strapped to her thigh. She stopped and turned around; Kirito quickly looked off into the distance. She giggled slightly, it was kind of cute.

"If you're done checking me out it would be good if you could either start leading or tell me where to go."

Kirito felt his face heat up a little, "Uhh, yeah. Sure thing," He stammered, jogging up beside her, "I was just wondering what your main weapon is" He covered expertly.

"Sure." She said, not at all convinced, "I guess I just haven't found it yet, but I like range so I got these." she pulled out a throwing needle

"Oh ok. I guess that makes sense."

She grabbed his wrist and started running, "LET'S GO KILL SOME BOARS!"

* * *

Asuna stood motionless staring at the spot where Kayaba had been, not wanting to believe but knowing all was true. She checked into the nearest inn with space available, and she cried herself to sleep thinking that maybe she would wake up in her room, instead of this dreadful nightmare.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, first end note… not a whole lot today. Please R&amp;R it's so helpful and really makes me want to write that much more, feel free to tell me I suck just back it up with evidence and show how your writing is superior. Don't just say: "You're a fag, stop writing, and kill yourself" or something equally ignorant._

_Sinoto: it's a community… check it out… it's good._

_I went back and revised this chapter so I hope it's better now._

_Hope you guys like it, I've wanted to do something like this for some time but was just too lazy so I just read and didn't write._

_I may not do this pairing justice but I'll sure as hell try my best… _

_Peace off ^_^_


	2. The Fall

_A/N: Here take some more *throws papers at readers* ^_^_

The Archery Skill

Chapter 2: The Fall

It had been a week, Asuna had scarcely moved, leaving only to pay for her room and eat a meager meal each day. Today would be different; she walked out of the inn. She walked around The Town of Beginnings noticing many players were doing what she had been doing for the past week, or rather the lack of doings. She walked towards the edge of the city and noticed a large crowd. She wondered what they were doing, she quickened her pace. When she was close enough to see the sight was horrific, lines of people waiting to jump off the world, she couldn't believe it yet somehow she knew understood she walked closer as if in a trance. Before she knew it she had reached the front of a line. She stepped up onto the short wall at the edge of the world. Her heart was pounding. Everything slowed down. She closed her eyes. She breathed… in… out… she leaned forwards. She caught herself, and she looked around. She saw the pain in their faces. She wasn't like them. She was stronger, no, she needed to be stronger, for them.

* * *

He was tired, they had been in the dungeon for hours, "Ugg," Kirito grunted, "We've been in this dungeon for days."

She laughed, "nu-uh" stated the girl with blue hair "it's been a mere nineteen hours and forty-seven minutes."

"Well it's felt like days," He said.

The girl looked hurt "D-do you not enjoy my company Kirito-san?"

He blushed "No that's not what I meant at all."

"Well I was being sarcastic." She stuck her tongue out slightly at him. He slumped further down the wall, face still red. "Catch" she said suddenly, throwing him their water skin.

"Thanks." "He took a swig and seemed instantly re-energized. "So what's next?" He asked.

"Sleep" she said plopping down on her bed roll "I'll let you take first watch." He attempted to argue, but she was already fake-sleeping.

* * *

She browsed the weapons shop, looking for a weapon that she thought would suit her. Her eyes landed on a very thin light looking sword, "Ah a rapier, fancy yourself a fencer then," asked the owner of the shop.

"Well I want something light and fast, and I had some fencing training back home…" she shook her head vigorously, "I just think it would suit me."

"Ok" said the smith "That'll Be 500 co.l"

"Oh" said Asuna, " I only have 400…"

"Tell you what," said the pink haired girl "I'll make it 400 but only if you come to me for your repairs."

"Uhh, sure" said Asuna, flicking open a trade window and completing the transaction. She jogged to the door and stopped, turning around, she waved "Bye, uhh…"

"Lizbeth, of Lizbeth's smith shop" she finished for her.

"Oh, I'm Asuna, nice to meet you Liz. Well I'll be seeing you." With that she ran out the door, out of the city, out to the fields to grind. She had to be stronger.

* * *

They stopped; in front of them was a very large door. Sinon started to walk towards the door but stopped when something grasped her wrist. "No," Kirito Said firmly, "That's the boss room"

"So we can still go in, take a peek, just for-"

"No" Kirito said firmly, "I'll not let you get hurt."

"Ooohhh Kirito-kun" She purred, "How thoughtful."

"I-I look out for my friends is all," he stammered.

"Oh is that all" she said in mock disappointment.

"Ugg," was all he replied with.

"Well if that's your only argument I'm going" She broke free of his grasp and ran forward pushing at the door which opened automatically the rest of the way. Inside was black except for a solitary torch in the middle of the room. It was being held by a man.

* * *

Asuna had finished clearing another field of mobs. They were easy, too easy. She looked up, noticing the once distant column of the floor dungeon was now only a few kilometers away now. It had to have good loot and mob spawns. She decided to go towards it. She had to get stronger. She had to beat the boss, all the bosses, she had to clear the game, her life was no longer hers, she lived for the 2000 players who didn't, she lived to stop everyone's suffering, she lived to kill Kayaba Akihiko.

* * *

"Oh thank goodness someone's come," he exclaimed, "We've been trapped here for two days and this is our last torch."

"Why have you been stuck here?" asked the girl with blue Hair, noticing now about six other people.

"Oh," he said, "The door closes" as if on cue the door began to close.

"SINON!" Yelled Kirito.

"Yeah I know, back up," She was already well outside the room when the door closed. She pushed on the door again but to no avail.

"This door won't budge, Kirito-san help me, your strength parameter is higher than mine."

"OK." Even with both of them pushing they still couldn't get it to move an inch. They heard a scream, it came from the room. Then another, then another, then… silence. The door opened. The light was gone. Kirito fell to his knees "When I started this game, the only thing I thought about was surviving. But those people in there, we could have done something, I could've saved them."

Sinon sank down to join him. She wrapped her arms around him, "Hey, there's nothing you could've done. You didn't know. It's my fault more than yours, I opened the doors"

"No!" He said, "I should've saved them. I-I just needed to be faster."

"You can't save everyone Kirito-kun"

"But I can at least try, can't I?"

"Yes you can, but don't blame yourself for this." She hugged him tighter and looked into his eyes "Thank you Sinon-san, you're a good friend"

"What? We're not friends, just party-mates, I couldn't have you being all depressed. You'd slow me down," she replied hastily, letting go of him.

"Well," he said, "I guess we should get going." He still didn't move.

"Yeah. We should."

_A/N: OOOHHHH! What was that, what happens next, find out in exactly two days!_

_Thanks for the reviews… I've never been good at dialogue, my beta tester bailed on me to so that sucks._

_R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R plz_

_I know Sinon is a bit (understatement much) out of character. But I'll try._

_Aren't horizontal lines great_

_Peace off ^_^_


	3. The Bow

_A/N: Here take a look at this. ^_^_

_Reviews: _

_Agent 94: lol, thx. Yeah I know, it's two summaries together with not enough room to finish. She does start with blue hair, because she doesn't use the [MIRROR]. Yes, horizontal lines are great. Yeah… Oh my beta tester quit right after I sent her the chapter._

_Try to: Yeah, it's a bad habit._

_The King of Ghost: Thx. Done, and done_

_Daviddanialy: Thx. I'll try_

_Guest: Thx. Will do_

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 3: The Bow

* * *

The dungeon was close now, it was larger than she had expected. It towered above her, reaching the sky, but that was to be expected, after all that sky was the next floor's ground. Asuna walked inside. It was dark. She struck a match and lit a torch. The preciously dark room was bathed in a warm glow, the dungeon was primarily blue stone brick with dark pink highlights, and had far fewer spider webs than a dungeon should. She saw a spiral staircase and began the arduous journey that lay before her.

Sinon was looking absentmindedly through her menu when she noticed something unusual in her quest log. "Hey Kirito-san," she said, "Do you have this quest?"

He looked at the quest she was indicating, "Let me check," he scrolled through his menu, "yeah."

"Do you remember the quest-giver"

"Nope"

"I think that the [Man With Torch] was the guy in the dungeon yesterday"

"But that would mean…" he trailed off

"Exactly. Do you remember seeing coursers above their heads."

"They were NPC's!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

"Uh-Hu" she nodded smugly.

"Well, that's a relief."

"Yeah it is," she sighed, "We'd better tell everyone about the boss room"

"Oh, good idea," he flicked open his friends list and started writing a message to Argo. She started walking away. "Where do you think you're going?" Kirito asked.

"I think you've repaid your debt, cant say its been the most interesting farming session," she grinned, "well, I might see you, I might not. Bye." The message [Party has been dissolved] appeared in front of both of them.

* * *

Asuna had been walking through the dungeon for hat seemed like ages, and not a single mob had appeared. She heard the faint sound of footsteps in the distance. Lighting the nearest wall sconce, a horn looking thing on the wall, and un-equipped her torch. She hid. The source of the footsteps approached. It was humanoid, but the room was too dark to make out the details, she sunk further out of sight. The figure stopped in the middle of the room. "Hey you," said a female voice, "show yourself" it was a player she got up, raising her hands to signal that she had no intention of attacking. The figure walked closer, into the light. She was a girl around the same age as her, maybe a little older, she had a rugged military look, and snowy blue hair.

"Who are you?" asked Asuna.

"Why do you care." The mysterious girl retorted coldly. Asuna had no reply. "Exactly"

"I'm Asuna, that's a very odd name Whydoyoucare-sama"

The blue haired girl reached down and pulled two things from the band on her thigh. Suddenly, she felt the bottom and hood of her cloak move and become pinned against the wall. "Don't talk to me like that." she said, walking off.

* * *

Sinon had seemed more hostile than usual, had he done something, Kirito wondered. He was walking alone, along the dank corridor of the floor-dungeon. He saw a warm yellow light ahead, as he got closer he realized it was torch, and it was being held by a player. He continued to approach the mysterious figure, he noticed more details about them, they were wearing a cloak, it was a sort of burgundy color and white pants or stockings, he couldn't tell, with dark red boots, and they were carrying a sword of some kind. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hi." The figure replied in a feminine voice

"We've already cleared out all the mobs today, so if you're looking to farm you'll have to wait till respawns"

"We?" she asked

"Oh, yeah, I was with this girl, cold personality, icy hair, and…"

"I know who you're talking about; she went that way," The player indicated a direction close to the path to the exit, "how long till respawns?"

"About eight hours, I'd guess"

"Oh well I guess I'll stay till then, those boars aren't very efficient"

"Cool, hope we meet again, I guess." And he was gone.

* * *

As Sinon walked through the dungeon she noticed an abnormality in the wall sconces; most were three meters apart but these were only a little less than one. She inspected them more carefully. Each had a thin metal wire attached to the back, and a hinge connecting it to the wall. She pulled one, it gave, but nothing happened. She pulled the other, same result. She thought for a moment, then pulled both, a secret door opened up, revealing a surprisingly well-lit room made of the usual dark-blue stone bricks. On each side of the door, pushed up against the wall, were locked chests, the far half of the room did not have a floor; it just dropped into a very deep pit that probably had a not so pleasant surprise waiting at the bottom. She walked in. The door closed. She was startled a little by this but preceded to attempt to pick the lock. [IMMORTAL OBJECT] appeared in front of the lock. "Hmm," she pondered. She looked across the room and noticed a metal fitting on the wall, about eight meters away resembling a key hole in the upper-center was a hole only about six cm in diameter. She had an idea. She slid her last throwing needle out of her thigh strap. And aimed, she only had one shot she breathed. In… Out… She threw the needle activating a thrown weapon skill [PINPOINT]. The needle flew true and struck its mark, two clicks were heard and the door opened. She looked in the chest to her tight in the chest were two items: [THE BOW] and [STEEL ARROWS x30]. She jumped up and down, she had found her weapon. She opened the other chest in it were two books [ARCHERY] and [FLETCHING]. "I guess I shoulder expected that" she said to herself, while equipping the bow and quiver. She opened the books and two unique skills appeared in her skill list.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed, sorry I'm late, some things came up._

_I wanted her to get the bow last chapter but I wanted to post quickly so it was shorter than I had hoped. But I got it in this time so that's cool, right? _

_And I leave you as always with: Peace off ^_^_


	4. The Player

_A/N: In this chapter: Teaser for first floor boss fight. OC. Also, FIRST PERSON^_^_

_Reviews:_

_Demonshade: Noted_

_Sgtranglin: I hope this is less rushed, I love it too I'm having so much fun writing this I'm glad y'all feel the same about reading it. I'm about to start reading them._

_C U at the bottom_

* * *

Chapter 4: The Player

Kirito looked around the amphitheater; there were lot of players. There were three other players by themselves. Sinon was there, no surprise; the girl from the dungeon, wearing her red cloak; and another player, wearing a dark grey long tattered cloak, he couldn't tell much about that one. A player stepped up to the stage, he was kind of tall with blue hair and a blazingly charismatic aura. "Thank you for coming today. My name is Diabel and the job I chose was knight!" The crowd murmurs things about how there is no job system in this game. "Yesterday a party found the boss room in the dungeon." He looked to Argo, who was leaning against a column a little ways away and then to Kirito, looking a little annoyed at him. He then turned back to the crowd, "We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone in the town of beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here shares that duty." The crowd started clapping. "Everyone needs to divide into parties of six."

Before he knew it everyone but the players had formed complete groups he looked around then got up and walked over to Sinon. "Want to party up with me, you know just for the boss fight.

She looked around, "Do I have a choice?"

"No." He smiled, sending her the invite "We should add them as well." He gestured towards the two, cloaked players.

"Aww, do we have to?" She whined

"Yes." He scolded firmly

They laughed

"Hey can I join y'all's party?" Asked a player in a dark grey cloak. Kirito couldn't tell the gender of the voice and a shadow covered their face.

"Yeah I guess." Replied Kirito, he set a party invite to the player and went over to talk to the girl he had met in the dungeon.

* * *

Asuna stared at the ground. She didn't care what group she was in, she had no friends, except that blacksmith but… Her thoughts were interrupted by a male voice.

"Did you get left out?" Asked the voice.

"I didn't," she replied, "I just stayed out because everyone else seemed to know each other already."

"You're a solo player?" He asked. "You want to party with us?"

"You keep referring to yourself in the plural." She remarked. The boy gestured to Sinon and the cloaked player. She looked up. She looked up, seeing the blue haired girl she immediately said, "No, I don't like her."

"Come on," He said, "She's not bad once you get to know her, and he just said we can't beat he boss on our own."

"Fine," She huffed, "But if she's mean I'm leaving."

* * *

Sinon was all alone with the hooded player now that Kirito had gone to talk to that girl from the dungeon, Asuna, she thought maybe. "Sooo…" She said, not at all awkwardly. She looked at the party list that read [Sinon] [Kirito] [Arekkusu], "Arekkusu-sama…"

"Yes." The player responded, "How do you know my name?"

"If you look about here," She indicated a spot where she thought her name should be for him, "You should see your name, then just underneath it you should see two others."

"Oh," He/She said, "So… You're Kirito then."

"NO! I'm Sinon, Kirito is the boy over there"

"Oh," The player muttered, "Sorry."

"Good" She huffed.

A new name appeared under the girl/guy in the cloak's name: [Asuna] "So I'm guessing Kirito succeeded." Said the player.

* * *

I was having a great time chatting it up with Sinon when suddenly the guy on stage started talking again. "Okay, have you formed your parties? Then-

"Just a second!" said a voice from outside the amphitheater. A short man with spiky hair suddenly jumped over me, and bounded down to the stage. "My name's Kibaou and I've got a few things to say. Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand who've died so far!

"Kibaou-san, are you referring to the beta-testers?"

"OF COURSE I AM, ARE YOU DAFT!" He yelled, "On the day this godforsaken game began, the beta-fags ditched us normal players, and all vanished! They took all the good hunting spots, all the easy quests, all the good loot, all the useful info, and left us to die, so only they could get stronger. I'm sure some of you here are beta-fags like them. If you're from beta you should get on your knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money you've horded." I looked at the ground, no, this couldn't be happening. I won't give up all my hard earned items. I looked over at Kirito and noticed he had a similar expression as I did. "Otherwise we can't trust them to protect us as party members, AND THEY SHOULDN'T TRUST US!

"May I speak?" asked a new voice. I opened an eye I didn't realize I had closed. A very large black man stood up and walked towards the stage. Egil! Oh good I liked that guy, because he was always so nice. "My name is Egil," Said Egil, "Kibaou-san, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the beta testers didn't take care of them many beginners died. That they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation. Correct?"

"Yeah that's right!" Kibaou replied, indignantly.

"You got this guide-book, right?" He asked "It was provided for free at the item store.

"Sure I did. Why?"

"It was compiled by information given by the beta testers." He stated bluntly. "Listen. Everyone had equal access to this info." He said, hitting the book. "Even so, many players died. I thought the point of this was to figure out what we can learn from their deaths, and how that can help us defeat the boss." I let out a sigh of relief as I saw how expertly Egil had diffused that bomb.

"Then can we resume?" Asked Diabel. "The latest edition of the guide book was just issued, unfortunately there is no useful information on the boss. And only two players have received the one time quest. To his right he saw Sinon throw a glance over to Kirito, was there something between them? "We can, however, assume that he may have minions so we should have a contingency plan for that, and for safety reasons we should put tanks at the front and keep switching out, then when he's of balance send in high DPS fighters in rapid bursts. Lastly, items will be automatically distributed, and [EXP] goes to the party that defeats the monster. Whoever receives an item keeps it. Any objections?" No one answered. "Dismissed. We leave at ten tomorrow morning."

* * *

_A/N: Arekkusu is an American who's real name is Alex, and does not have gender, backstory in 2 chapters_

_I had fun writing this chapter. They're gonnaget better… Promise. I'll try to describe stuff with more details and slowdown the pace a little, aside from dialogue formatting, that's the number one thing y'all review about. _

_If you want me to talk to you up top write a review. R&amp;R&amp;R plz _

_I still need a beta tester. If you would like early access or just feel like being a decent person P.M. me._

_FIRST PERSON ANYONE?_

_Peace Off ^_^_


	5. The Strats

_A/N: I finally got a beta tester so I hope this one will be better than the previous ones, in the aspect of errors at least._

_Reviews: _

_Pyrohellguner: I'm not saying anything. ^_^ Gender-less i tell you! (You didn't see anything)_

_Wiroxd: You're too nice ^_^ I will do that_

_Ph1n4l: There are better ones out there, I'm just a bad writer tryin to do this pair justice. I hope you like Him/Her._

_Sgtranglin: Thank you._

_AlexCaffri: Thanks for all the reviews, yeah they're my OTP too (I like the IRL versions more, as a pairing.) I know it's an issue, but I'm trying. ^_^ It's the least confusing way I could think of to write a genderless character, I'm glad you like it, I think it adds nice variety to the POVs. I was actually thinking of having the character's name be Alex (^_^) but I thought it should be Japanese. _

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 5: The Strats

* * *

"Do you have two rooms for tonight?" Kirito asked the Innkeeper

"I'm sorry sir just the one" She replied

"Does it have two beds?" He inquired

"Probably." She said helpfully

Sinon stood behind him, getting angrier as the conversation 'Probably' what did that mean? Why didn't the innkeeper know? It would be very awkward if- She was ripped from her thoughts when she noticed they were standing at an open door. She looked into the room. There was only one bed. She froze.

* * *

Kirito wondered what was wrong with her. She was just standing there looking into the room. He followed her gaze, and his eyes landed on the bed, singular. He face palmed and muttered something about stupid money-grubbing innkeepers and a town with only one inn. "Hey Sinon," He said tentatively, "I'll take the floor."

"Damn right you will." And that was the end of it.

* * *

Asuna stared coldly at the hooded figure who seemed to have decided that she needed company. He or she gazed back happily into her eyes, presumably.

"Hello Asuna-sama I'm Arekkusu"

"How do you know me, and why do I care who you are" She hissed.

"I'm in your party"

"Oh"

"You know, there's a way to make those taste good." Arekkusu said, gesturing towards the stale bread in her hands.

"I don't care. I didn't come here to eat good food. I came here so I wouldn't kill myself, so I wouldn't lose myself, so I could give myself for the good of all those who don't have the will to carry on. I came here to be stronger." She stated emotionlessly.

"Whoa… That's morbid… You wanna talk about it?" The player asked sincerely.

"No." She replied, "Not with you, not with anyone. I must carry this weight alone."

"NO!" He or she scolded. "You don't have to do anything alone, that's why you're in a party, so you don't have to be alo-"

"I don't know you." She left.

* * *

It was morning. The boss fight was today. I stretched and looked around; it was the town square. I had fallen asleep on a bench last night after talking to Asuna I guessed. I opened my friends list and opened the map to Kirito, who had been smart enough to rent a room. I walked into the in and went up to a room temporarily belonging to Kirito and knocked. "Hey bro it's Arekkusu, I want to talk strat-"

The door opened and Sinon appeared, still in her pajamas "Hey," She said coldly "He just woke up, so don't be surprised if he seems dumber than usual."

"Hey now," He protested, "What's that supposed to mean."

"Oh Kirito-kun, you're too easy." A pillow was flung at her head using a thrown weapon skill but she dodged effortlessly. "Wow, and you're what level?" There was definitely something between them. I just couldn't tell what. My heart fluttered, THEYWOULDMAKESUCHACUTECUPLE! I could feel myself blushing so I checked that I had my mask on, a simple grey piece of cloth that I had wrapped around my face, covering my chin nose and mouth, I didn't want anyone to anything about me. I was trying to live a second life but that stupid mirror had made me: me.

Kirito walked toward the door he saw a hooded figure. "Come in." He said. Glaring at Sinon who beamed back at him. "So Arekkusu-san what are your highest four skills and main weapon?"

"[Sprint][Hiding][Acrobatics] and [One-Handed Daggers]" Said the player."

Kirito laughed slightly then asked, "Fancy yourself a rogue then?"

"Yes sir."

"Well then our strategy is I'll use my [One-Handed Sword] skill and high strength parameter to knock the boss off balance, then I'll switch with Asuna while she uses her [Sprint] to poke him down and distract him while you use [Hiding] to get behind the boss and do some sick criticals, all while Sinon here gives covering fire, questions?"

"Yeah," Said a girl in a red cloak he had just noticed in the doorway. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"WAIT WHAT ABOUT COVERING FIRE?" Arekkusu asked. To explain, Sinon opened her inventory and pulled out a bow. "First unique skill in the game, pretty awesome, no?" She bragged.

"A bow…" The player gawked, presumably. Sinon giggled slightly. Kirito thought it was kind of cute, and smiled. She punched him in the arm.

"Oww. That hurt."

"*Pfft* it only did 15 damage."

"Yeah 15 points of damage, why did it do that much."

"Cuz I was aiming for 20!"

"Gahh. I hate you!" He exclaimed.

"Aww, Kirito-kun," She purred, "You know you love me."

"No." He said, not quite convincingly.

"I'm just teasing, no need to get all serious."

"We should going, we don't want to be late." Arekkusu said, changing the subject.

* * *

I was walking along the path next to Kirito. Our party was at the very back, and Asuna and Sinon were just behind us, probably having a glaring contest. We walked in silence, having talked strategy this morning already, but it was a comfortable silence that neither wanted to break. Until the I just had to ask, "So you and Sinon…"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Are you guys like… Together?" I asked tentatively.

"I don't understand the question." He replied.

I tightened my fists, "Are you two like a couple, or do you just know each other in real life?" I asked.

"Where did you get that idea?"

"Its just y'all flirt, a lot."

"We do not." He defended firmly, but then pondered, "At least I don't think so."

"It's just you two would be a cute couple."

"You're a girl aren't you." He redirected

I smiled. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"So why don't you want anyone to know?" He asked.

"That's none of your business." I said, my voice losing its usual chipper tone and taking on one much darker. I looked at the ground, and we walked the rest of the distance in silence, this time not so comfortable.

* * *

Asuna stared coldly at the girl with blue hair. She glared right back. They had been doing this in silence the entire walk and seemed intent on doing it the rest of the rest of the way. Asuna didn't like her, and was almost certain that the feeling was mutual. They continued for another ten or so minutes until the pair in front of them stopped. Nearly running into them they looked up and saw it, the giant stone column that would lead to a new world.

* * *

_A/N: Hello. Hope you like it. I meant for this to be the boss fight but… Well ill try to post every other day, so don't worry it won't be long till that._

_R&amp;A&amp;W&amp;R please. Reviews are really helpful._

_I'm thinking of making this about 20 chapters long. Once school starts I won't be able to post as quickly. I'll try to increase chapter length once this fic starts to get a steady flow of views and reviews._

_I finally got a beta tester TY to Ph14l for all the help. _

_If you still think I should stop writing and kill myself please PM me with the errors and suggestions and I'll put them into effect._

_The OC is: Kirito's shadow, Asuna's emotions, Sinon's dark side, plus a little special input from me. Also, they will be the main interaction with Asuna, who I wrote OOC to have less emotions and be much more introverted._

_Anyways, see you soon, Peace off ^_^_


	6. The Boss and the Backstory Part 1

_A/N: This is the boss… Finally. Also, more about Arekkusu. Also, I'd like you guys to tell me if you like him/her as a character and if you like the 3__rd__ person 1__st__ person switching._

_Reviews:_

_Pyrohellgunner: I ain't sayin anything. Can you now? I'll keep tryin._

_AlexCaffri: Luv u 2_

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 6: The Boss And The Backstory PART 1

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Diabel asked us. There was a general consensus of affirmative among the raid party members. "Then lets GO!" He exclaimed, pushing open the door. Our party rushed through the door, which promptly closed behind us with a slam. "KIRITO!" Screamed the blue haired man.

"Yes sir."

"Why didn't you tell us the door closed?"

"I think there's more pressing matters currently." As if on cue, the entire room began to glow a deep crimson and a large black hulking mass dropped to the ground, making the ground shudder.

"Tanks up front!" He shouted, "Someone get that thing illuminated."

"Roger!" Sinon said, firing a luminescent arrow into the figure. Before them stood a giant knight in ebony black armor, nearly six meters high, horns protruding from the helm and spikes coming off the shoulder pads, the rest of the armor looked similarly painful and evil. He had a war hammer with you guessed it: spikes.

He had spikes everywhere; it was as if this guy didn't know that porcupines went out of style years ago, I thought. The visor of his helmet began to glow a bright red color. Two crimson orbs appeared, and they felt like they were gazing into my very soul… I was in love.

* * *

Kirito stared at the knight; it was what had killed those NPC's. He would make sure it paid. Movement to the left caught his eye; there were five smaller versions of the boss, only three or so meters high, and less spiky, each wielding a sword and shield. "Asuna-san with me, Sinon stall the others, Arek-san try to flank around back." He ordered, three affirmatives were heard immediately.

Diabel glanced at Kirito and smiled, "Everyone else kill that boss, just like we planned."

Kirito charged at the closest minion; an arrow flew over his head, striking another one doing almost no damage, but momentarily stopping its advance. Kirito jumped at the minion's shield knocking it off balance, he swung at its head and it parried, badly, it was now completely off balance "Switch!"

"Understood." Asuna affirmed. She charged at the minion and jumped, plunging her rapier firmly through the visor of its armor, it promptly exploded into polygons. She fell to the ground and rolled. Another came at them but was struck in the head with an arrow. Kirito used this opportunity to activate a [Horizontal] sword skill and separate its legs from its torso; it too exploded. Two more came at them: one was struck by an arrow, and the other swung down at Kirito who deflected its swing to the ground, spun, and relived it if its right hand with a swift flick of his blade. Asuna charged and activated a [Linear] through its chest. The minion slammed his shield into her, knocking her into Kirito. The other minion had recovered and was charging at them while arrows were repeatedly stunning the last one. The second minion's sword came down on them, then a purple slice flashed across its neck and a 'Sick Critical' appeared. Its health broke, and the knight disappeared completely. A figure in a dark cloak fell to the floor and slashed the leg of the other knight, depleting the last of its health. The last minion was felled behind him, having been hit constantly with arrows.

The group turned their attention to the boss: the scene was beautiful. It was at the last bit of yellow in the last of its four health bars, and formation was holding flawlessly. "Let's go help." Kirito suggested. They agreed. An arrow from Sinon was enough to drop it into the red zone. The entire room darkened and the knight began to glow brilliantly-a sickening, blood red color. The Boss threw its hammer at the formation, making a crater, breaking the formation, and killing one player instantly. The rest flew back and were knocked out cold. The only player to withstand the impact was Diabel. Suddenly two huge battle-axes (also covered in spikes) appeared in its hands, and it changed its stance to a more aggressive one. It jumped. The knight, far more agile than it looked, wall-jumped randomly, hoping to catch someone off guard. It did. It hurled itself at Asuna, who was dizzy from following it with her eyes. There was a deafening crash. She lay unconscious in the middle of the crater. The boss jumped again and prepared a final strike, but was slammed by a furious Kirito who hit him out of the air with a [Sonic Leap]. Its health was nearly gone. A purple line appeared on its neck and it exploded into a massive cloud of polygons.

Kirito was confused, until heard a voice say, "HECK YEAH LAST HIT BONUS," addressed to no one in particular then, more solemnly, "I'm sorry." Seemingly addressed to the boss. It was Arekkusu. That kid is weird Kirito thought, Though pretty indispensible.

* * *

I scrolled through my inventory looking for the rare item; I found it, [White Knight] was the item name. I used it. Before me appeared a knight dressed all in white armor, "I'm here to serve you," It said, "Command me and I shall obey. I owe you my life for you could defeat that which I could not."

"Take off your helmet." I said.

"What?" It asked.

'Take off your helmet," I repeated, "If were going to get to know each other I need to know what you look like."

*Cough* "Hypocrite" *Cough* coughed Sinon

"Of course." It said. It removed its helmet, revealing the face of a beautiful girl. She had long blond hair blue eyes and a heart shaped face.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Sinon noticed that the girl had a green curser above her head. Then, Arekkusu began to stammer something, and walked closer to the girl; the player touched her face, so tentatively that it was as if he/she thought she was made of millimeter thick glass. He/she whispered something, barely audible but just loud enough for Sinon to hear, "Nee-chan? Is that you?"

The girl's eyes grew wide. "Alex?" She asked.

* * *

_A/N: Hehehehehehehe_

_What was that? You're probably asking. All questions will be answered next chapter… maybe. ^_^_

_For more great Sinon X Kirito &amp; Shino X Kazuto Fics please check out the Sinoto Comunity, which can be found on my page, or on the SAO communitys list_


	7. The Boss and the Backstory Part 2

_A/N: School's starting soon, Chapters will be posted less often, Chapters will get longer. Almost all of my chapters are about 1.3k words, at about chapter 10 this will no longer be the case, for both fluff and length will increase._

_Don't forget to check out the Sinoto Sword Art Online Community for more great SinonxKirito fics. And please P.M. Me if you want to be staff or have add recommendations ^_^ C U at the bottom_

_Reviews:_

_ThisIsTheGreatestUsername: I did mean beta-tester, for you see__**: Attention, readers. Welcome to my Fic. My name is Posiden666. At the moment, I am the sole person who can control of this story. I'm sure you've already noticed that this story changes between first and third person. But this is not a defect in the story. I repeat… This is not a defect in the story. This is a feature of "The Archery Skill." … This ends the official tutorial of TAS good luck to you to reader. **__^_^ But seriously thx I'll try to make the 1__st__ to 3__rd__ person switches fewer, and less confusing._

_Marcialhd: Thank you the mistake has probably been corrected by the time of this posting._

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 7: The Boss and The Backstory Part 2

* * *

"Nee-chan, is that you?" I whispered.

The girl's eyes widened. "Alex?" She asked.

"Sissy!" I yelled, embracing her so tightly it was probably painful. She dropped her long sword and tower shield and hugged me back, "Alex. I missed you." I was crying now, tears streaming down my mask and making it a little hard to breathe and harder to talk. "I thought I'd never see you again," I exclaimed between sobs, "But how are you here, why were you a drop, I thought you were dead, I'm so s-sorry, I thought it was a game, I-I thought you were dead."

"I was." She said, "But then I woke up, and there was a man, he said he had hacked into the Cardinal and kept me from being deleted. He made one condition though."

"What was it," I asked, "I'll do anything to keep you alive!"

"I have to create a guild, with the sole intention of beating the game, and I have to name it: Knights of the Blood Oath. It has to become the strongest guild in at least six months or he'll drop the firewalls protecting me from Cardinal and I'll cease to exist.

"I'll help," Said Kirito, "I couldn't bear knowing I let someone die when I could've done something."

"Me too," Said Sinon, "But I expect to get a lot of benefits and privileges."

"I shall help as well," exclaimed Diabel, "Anything for the unity of the lead group."

She looked to Alex.

"OF COURSE I'LL JOIN!" Yelled Alex, "Was it even a question!"

* * *

Asuna blinked… her body hurt all over, informing her she was still alive. She tried to get up, but she had several [Broken limb] debuffs on. Kirito walked over to her, and sighed, "Glad to see you're awake… and alive." He threw her a health pot, which she caught with much difficulty.

Everyone else in their party, and Diabel, came over to the crater she was lying in, but she noticed a new face, a girl with blond hair, "Who's that?" She asked.

"IT'S MY SISSY!" Exclaimed Arekkusu, with so much excitement she thought the kid would explode.

"Anyways," Kirito started, "Were going to form a guild, focused on clearing the game as quickly as possible, we'd like to know if you want to join?"

"Yes!" She said, a little too quickly, "That is why I'm here, so if there's anything I can do to achieve it faster I will gladly die for it."

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary." Kirito joked.

Everyone else in the raid party was starting to wake up now, "Ok everyone," Diabel ordered, "To the second floor." Exhausted cheers were heard as everyone made their way to the dungeon exit, hoping the next floor would have a decent inn.

* * *

Sinon and the rest of the soon-to-be guild, were among the first to arrive at the inn. Kirito, being conscious of the fact that a large number of players would need to stay in the same inn as them, reserved only four rooms. Two were large two-bed rooms, one for Kirito and her because they were used to sleeping in close proximity to each other, and one for Alex and the new girl, because they were siblings. The remaining rooms went to Asuna and Diabel. The group then went to the local tavern to celebrate their victory.

"So we haven't actually gotten your name yet." Kirito said to the new girl

"Oh of course," Said the girl, "My name is Zoë!"

"I mean your username."

"Oh, that's also Zoë"

"Hmm," He said, "Not many people use their real name as their username." Stated Kirito. He sent her a party invite, which she accepted. A new name appeared in the party list, which now read

[Kirito]: 150/150

[Sinon]: 125/125

[Arekkusu]: 135/135

[Asuna]: 120/140

[Diabel]: 190/200

**[HEATHCLIFF]: 400/400**

"Umm, sissy," Alex whispered, "Your username is Heathcliff, also you have twice as much health as our tank."

Kirito reached for his sword, but was stopped by Sinon who asked, "Zoë, would you please explain why you lied to us, and tell us what your current level is."

"I-I don't know, I swear I thought my username was Zoë."

"EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!" Yelled Alex, attracting annoyed glares from everyone else in the tavern. "My sissy wouldn't lie about anything, ever! And Kirito, if you ever attempt to hurt her, I'll slit your throat faster than you can draw your blade."

"I'm sorry I wasn't thinking, you're right though, why would someone knowingly lie about something like that then accept a party invite, it doesn't make sense"

"Maybe the guy who saved her changed her name to avoid a database conflict with a dead player being alive." Sinon offered.

"That's a good idea, Sinon, thank you." Zoë said.

"Well, we can talk about this later, I think we are probably some of the best players in the game right now so let's form a guild and beat this game!" Diabel said, changing the subject.

There, they formed their guild. Zoë was, of course, the guild leader. And everyone else shared the rank of [Elite] and [Cofounder]. They maintained their party, for reasons of convenience, and spent the rest of the night celebrating on the victory over the boss, and the creation of the guild.

After they had finished their celebrations, and everyone was ready to sleep, they walked back to the inn and said their good-nights. Sinon and Kirito, were alone, in a bedroom, which again had only one bed. The boy's head drooped, "Seriously, why does this always happen to us?" He asked.

"I don't know, maybe you're just bad luck." She teased, "You know Kirito-kun, this might be fate." She stepped closer to him and hugged his arm.

Kirito turned bright red, but then wrapped his other arm around her waist, and faced her, "You th-think so." He mocked.

It was now her turn to glow crimson, she pushed him away and slapped him, "I-I was just kidding." She stammered looking away from him.

"Yeah I was too," He said, "I'll take the floor"

"D-Damn right you will!" She almost exclaimed, jumping into the bed and hiding under the covers.

He laughed quietly and lay down on the floor, awaiting sleep.

* * *

My sister and I stood in our room, which contained two beds, "So Zoë…" I said.

"Yeah?" She asked.

My mind flashed back to the first day of that horrible nightmare, before we knew it was a nightmare. We were standing in a field outside the Town of Beginnings, we had just finished clearing a pack of boars and were arguing about who had killed the most. "We don't need to argue," My sister said, "Why don't we just duel to see who's better."

"You're on." I said sending her a duel request [Half Loss Mode]

She smiled and declined, sending me a duel request [Total Loss Mode]

I hesitated, but only for an instant, then accepted. I thought we were just playing a game. I pulled myself out of my thoughts. I didn't want to remember it. I thought I had killed my sister. "I'm sorry." I whispered.

She looked at me, confused. Her eyes widened, and she smiled at me lovingly. She walked over and embraced me gently. I started to cry softly, and so did she. "Hey…" she said, "It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that we're alive, and together." She removed my hood and mask and began to stroke my longish black hair and kissed me on the forehead; she was humming the lullaby she always used to sing to me so I'd sleep, and my eyes immediately began to droop. She removed my cloak and carried me over to one of the beds and tucked me in. She began to move away, but I grabbed her wrist. "Sissy," I asked tears still wetting my cheeks, "Will you sleep with me tonight?"

"All right…" She said, turning off the light and snuggling in beside me.

I felt safe. I felt happy. I fell asleep.

* * *

_A/N: I hope that answered your questions… Maybe._

_Thanks again to my Beta tester Ph1n4l_

_R&amp;R Peace Off ^_^_


	8. The Red Nosed Reindeer

_A/N: Time skip ^_^_

_Please visit the Sinoto community page which can be found through [Communities] or can be found on my profile page._

_Ty to my Beta tester Ph1n4l_

_Reviews:_

_Pyrohellguner: Au contraire, I am a horrible writer who y'all misunderstand as tolerable. Nu-uh. It won't. Yes it did. The twists! Sooo good! Yeah I like it when he lives. … Oh yes, consider many things. Its better with him not dead. Now Kirito isn't a beater so he can join a guild._

_AlexCaffri: Lol ^_^Ty. I do indeed. I do love twisting plots. It was, quite._

_GGGEEEUUUSSSTTT: Why thank you._

_kyrito: Oh good, I only need 998 more beta testers now. Thank you, i thought so too._

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 8: The Red-Nosed Reindeer

* * *

**Two weeks after the boss fight **The knights of the blood oath had become the strongest and second largest guild in the game, after the Aincrad liberation army. The Lead Group has reached floor 29. Meanwhile, Sinon and Kirito have just been assigned to train a party that just joined the Knights of the Blood Oath; they call themselves the Moonlit Black Cats.

Kirito and Sinon were in charge of the military, and tactics for the guild. Diabel, in all his charismatic-ness was in charge of recruitment; Asuna was the one in charge of guild internal affairs. Zoë oversaw everything, but she usually helped out with dungeon raids and recruitment. And then there was Arekkusu; no one was really sure what that kid did, but he or she was almost always with Zoë.

"Ok everyone join the party, today we're going to grind the floor 15 dungeon. I know this is more advanced than the places you're used to grinding, but with Sinon and I to power level you guys you should be Lead Group material in no time." Kirito said (he had gotten better at giving orders and being a leader since floor one, and he was no longer as anti-social either). The Moonlit Black Cats had previously been a guild, but when Kirito saved them from a dungeon and offered them a place in the Knights of the Blood Oath, they quickly took it as an opportunity to reach the front lines faster.

Everyone had joined up now and the party list read:

[Kirito]: 1,200/1,200 Lvl 48

[Sinon]: 1,000/1,000 Lvl 49

[Keita]: 800/800 Lvl 24

[Tetsuo]: 800/800 Lvl 23

[Sasamaru]: 650/650 Lvl 22

[Ducker]: 500/500 Lvl 21

[Sachi]: 650/650 Lvl 20

This was going to be harder than he thought. Kirito decided that to achieve the level the group required he should eventually take them to the floor dungeon on floor 27. In the mean time they would just farm field mobs and become acquainted better.

* * *

**After three weeks** of leveling and teamwork, Kirito thought they were ready. He called them all together before everyone went to sleep, but Sachi was missing. "All right everyone, spread out and look for Sachi, and tomorrow I'll take you to your final test to join the front lines." Everyone left in different directions. Kirito opened his friends list and used [TRACE] on Sachi. He found her under a bridge. "Sachi!"

"Kirito."

"I was worried."

She looked down at the water in front of her. "Hey, Kirito… Let's run away together."

"Run away from what?" He asked

"From this town, from the monsters, form the Black Cats… from SAO"

Kirito looked horrified. "D-Do you mean a double suicide?"

"Heh, that might be ok. Sorry, that was a lie. If I had the courage to die, I wouldn't hide within the safety of this town, would I?" She said sadly, "Hey, why can't we leave this place? Why do we have to die, even though it's a game? What's the point of this?"

"I don't think there is a point." He answered.

"I-I'm afraid of dying."

"We're all afraid of dying."

"I'm so scared, I haven't been able to sleep lately…"

"You won't die… I promise." He promised.

"Really, how can you say something like that?"

"KotBO is a strong guild. We've always got at least one over-leveled player in the party to keep the others safe. And right now, you've got Tetsuo and me, so there's no reason for you to be a forward."

"So I really don't have to die? I can go back to reality someday?"

"Yeah. I won't let you die. Now let's get back to the inn, I'm sure everyone else is worried." He stood up and walked over to her, extending a hand, she took it.

"Okay," She said, "Hey Kirito, can I sleep with you tonight."

He looked slightly confused. "Why?"

"Well," She blushed, "You make me feel safe."

"I guess it's all right." They walked back to the inn, and she slept better than she had in months.

* * *

It was morning, Sinon was walking on point with Kirito, and the rest of the group was behind them, appearing to be having a great time. They were in the floor 27 dungeon and had encountered almost no resistance so far, which was strange. Sinon remembered this dungeon having quite a few [Dwarven Miners]. The players on point were so focused on scouting for enemies that they had completely missed a secret door.

"Hey leaders," Called Keita, "There's a super sneaky door here."

Sinon locked eyes with Kirito. How had the entire lead group missed that coming through here? They heard the grinding noise of crystal sliding against crystal and the hissing of pistons. They turned around and ran back. They were too late the door had closed behind them. Kirito kicked at the door, trying to get it open, but to no avail. They heard screams from within the chamber. "Sachi!" He yelled pulling out his sword, he began to swing at the door wildly, tears staining his cheeks. "KAYABA, YOU BASTARD!" He screamed. Falling to his knees he began to weep.

Sinon leaned against the door and slid to the ground, pulling Kirito into a hug. She too, was crying now. "It happened again," She said, "But this time… This time it was for real."

Kirito looked into her eyes, "We could've saved them. I promised I wouldn't let her die." He whispered.

"Kirito-kun, you can't save everybody," She started, looking down a little, "We can just try our best, and keep on living. So we can beat this godforsaken game. So we can save everybody who's left."

Kirito wrapped his arms around her and said, "You're right… we need to live… we're the hopes and dreams of everybody stuck in this stupid thing."

She looked back into his eyes, their faces were centimeters apart now. She leaned forward slightly, and kissed him. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was full of meaning.

His eyes were wide now, and they had both stopped crying, "What was that for?" He asked quietly.

"I'm glad you're still alive Kirito-kun."

"I'm glad you're alive too."

She smiled at him and stood up, extending a hand to him, he took it and got up. They walked out of the dungeon together. Their hearts heavy, but their determination restored.

* * *

**December 24, 2023**

The [Elite Party] was gathered in Zoë's office. "Ok everybody," She said happily, "We've received news of a one-time event item that is said to be able to resurrect the dead. We need that item." Everyone agreed that it would be a nice item to have. "The boss is said to spawn under a special fir tree: so we're going to split into teams of three and search the more probable spots, while I send out everybody else in the guild to check everywhere for this tree. The teams will be Kirito, Alex and me on team A and Asuna, Sinon, and Diabel on team B. Questions?"

"No ma'am" Replied everyone.

A B

[Heathcliff]: 5k /5k lvl 86 [Diabel]: 3k/3k lvl 79

[Kirito]: 2k/2k lvl 82 [Asuna]: 1,800/1,800 lvl 79

[Arekkusu]: 1,500/1,500 lvl 80 [Sinon]: 1,200/1,200 lvl 82

I got to be on a team with both Kirito, AND Sissy, that had to be one of the best things ever, I thought to myself.

"Ok guys," Kirito said, "I think I know the tree the rumors mention. It's on the 35th floor in the Forest of Wandering."

"Let's go then," Said Zoë

We arrived at the forest. Everything was going smoothly and then a strange group of players dressed as samurai appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, Kirito." One of the players yelled.

"Klein." Kirito sighed.

"You know these players?" Zoë asked Kirito.

"Kirito, I thought you were a solo…" His eyes landed on Zoë, who he suddenly appeared in front of, bowing, "H-Hello, my name is K-Klein! I'm 24, single and looking for a girlfr-" As suddenly as he appeared he flew back and landed on the snowy ground with a dull thud, having been kicked my me.

"THAT'S MY SISSY YOU CREEP!" I shouted.

Everyone present drew their weapons. The sound of a large group teleporting nearby drew their attention. Enter: The Holy Dragon Alliance.

"Okay children step out of the way." A man who looked to be in charge of the large party said.

"If I may introduce myself," Zoë hissed at him, "My name is Heathcliff, but you can call me Zoë. I am leader of the knights of the blood oath, a guild ranked superior to your own, a veteran commander of the lead group, and I'm currently the highest level player in the game. I would advise you step out of MY way."

"You're bluffing, why would some like that be here?" He said skeptically.

"THAT, is none of your business. Now I suggest that you leave immediately, unless you would like to start a war, which I also advise against."

The leader of the squad looked conflicted, not wanting to risk his guild, he backed down. "Fine, see you at the next boss fight." He motioned for a retreat, and they were gone.

"Now then, Klein," Kirito started, "Why are you here?"

"Oh I followed you," He stated bluntly, "More importantly, WHEN DID YOU STOP BEING A SOLO PLAYER?"

"When I met her." He gestured to Zoë.

Klein's jaw dropped, "So you guys are lik-"

"What he meant to say was, when my sissy appeared after the first floor boss fight, our party formed the Knights of the Blood Oath."

"Oh, good, so she's sin-" I had dashed up to Klein in the blink of an eye, knife drawn.

"If you want to even think about hitting on my sissy, I first need to see a résumé, a letter of recommendation from an accredited source, and I'll need to interview you." I growled.

Klein looked stunned for a second, then pulled out a sheet of paper. "Here's a personal bio, it should have enough information, you can ask Kirito about me, he's good right, and do you want to do the interview now or some other time?" Klein gritted through his teeth.

"Now. Is. Fine." I said, menacingly.

We walked off together in a random direction glaring at each other.

* * *

"Umm what just happened?" Zoë asked.

"Klein's getting Alex's blessing to hit on you." Kirito stated.

"Oh umm lets go fight the boss." She said distractedly. In the distance a bell tolled, signaling midnight.

A zeppelin-sleigh flew across the sky and a steam punk Robo-Clause fell to earth [NICOLAS THE RENEGADE]. He was wielding a brass revolver (With extra cogs and moving parts) and a brass chainsaw powered by, you guessed it, STEAM!

"Tanks, up front," Zoë ordered, "Kirito take all the damage dealers and get in formation."

"Yes ma'am"

The robot agro-ed onto Zoë, and shot all six shots from its revolver which she easily blocked using [HOLY SWORD] and her tower shield. She then spun and sliced its leg. The robot brought down its chain saw on her which she deflected into the snow using her shield "SWITCH!" she yelled jumping back. Kirito flew at its head activating [SONIC LEAP], slashing its eye, he grabbed onto a cog on its head and swung onto the back of his neck. He started hacking randomly at where its cerebral cortex would've been, dislodging a few important looking gears and breaking a few steam pipes. The giant brass Santa swung its, now free, chainsaw at Kirito who back flipped off its neck and rolled. The chainsaw hit where Kirito had been, demolishing the back of its wielder's neck instantly depleting its health to red. Zoë Jumped to the height of the monster's chest and used a quick [UPPERCUT] to deplete the boss's remaining health. "Well you guys helped a lot." She said to the remaining members Fuurinkazan, and highfiving Kirito.

"So what's the drop?" He asked she looked through her menu and cliked it [Must be applied to deceased player within ten seconds]

"Aww, well it still resurrects, so that's cool I guess." She grumbled.

Kirito looked at the ground, "Yeah, just, if anyone ever dies in front of you, please use it."

"Don't worry, I will." She said.

* * *

It was Christmas, Kirito's group had found the resurrection item yesterday, and it was kind of a disappointment, but it was Christmas, and that that was a day for happiness… And presents! Sinon crept over to Kirito's bed (Yes they were staying at the only inn were they could get a two bed room it seemed). She lay down beside him and purred into his ear "Kirito-kun, wake up."

The boy shot up so fast she almost had a heart attack. He started to open his menu to draw a weapon, but just realized the alarming person was Sinon. "Oh, hey Sinon… Why are you in my bed."

"Don't you remember last night," She teased, she saw the horrified look on his face and said, "Don't worry Kirito-kun, nothing happened, I'm just kidding. However, it is Christmas and I hope you got me a present." He stared at her blankly. "If you didn't you'll regret it," she said starting to draw a dagger.

"Of course I did," He said opening his inventory, "Close your eyes." She waited with her eyes closed for a few seconds. "Okay." He said. Sinon opened her eyes, in Kirito's hands was a black wooden bow reinforced with a dull black metal, it was beautiful. She clicked it [Hecate +7] was the name; it did more than twice the damage of her current bow. She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek, making him blush. She giggled gleefully, "I love it Kirito-kun. Oh, I have something for you too, she pulled out of her inventory, a black cloak with lots and lots of straps all of which were outlined in red. It looked like it had a high kick-ass stat bonus. He put it on immediately, it looked fantastic, plus it had good stats.

They spent the rest of the day with their guild mates, doing the usual things people do on Christmas, like drinking cocoa, singing songs, fighting bosses and generally having a great time.

* * *

_A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope y'all liked it have a good holiday._

_It felt like it was Christmas already when I was writing this chapter… I know its wwwaaayyy too early to think about Christmas._

_But anyways, check out the Sinoto community, Ty to Ph1n4l for _

_I hope you guys liked the length of this chapter, it's my new record: 2.8k. Wow, saying that is kinda depressing. Let me know in the comments if you'd like 1.5k chapters every other day, or 3k chapters every four days._

_Sinon X Kirito action is approaching._

_Anyways Pleas R&amp;R, read and review, rant and rave, whatever you want, just leave a comment._

_As always, Peace Off ^_^_


	9. The Black Swordsman Part 1

_A/N: Yes! I am still alive and writing. Sorry I'm late guys I had things. Like IRL things, I know, I'm surprised I have a life as well like school, WoW, Skyrim, XCom, Portal2, and anime things. But I'll give y'all a treat and make this an extra-long chapter, and a build to Laughing Coffin (If you haven't guessed what happens when they meet laughing coffin… well you haven't been watching SAO.)_

_Anyways… REVIEWS:_

_Kyrito: Thank you, I thought it was a good idea… But it probably sucks since I'm the one writing it. Thanks, but don't be an asshole. I'm sure said writers are trying their best._

_Sgtranglin: Ty. Shhh, they don't know that._

_AlexCaffri: I am in agreement with you 100% Except I'm mediocre at best._

_Guests: Will do._

_Furrballnerd: YES! I despise OC's… That being said… I did accidentally write in a few. Yeah I know I probably should've done something, but I felt it would ruin the modish kinda thing. PLOT TWISTS, sorry you guys, after Sinoto, this is my favorite thing to write. I will. ^_^_

_Salaeren: I would too, I would probably say it doesn't need to exist. I've tried grinding my [LIT] skill but It's just so tedious. I AM A WRITER! Albeit a bad one. I WILL STRIKE YOU ALL WITH WRITING, FOR I AM THOR! I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that, Sinon is already so out of character that I think rushing the relationship anymore would completely alienate her from her character. That being said… Sinoto is coming_

_Speaking of Sinoto, check out the community page [Sinoto] if you love this pairing and… (a) Think I'm a terrible writer who should kill myself. (b) Like the premise of this story but think I'm a terrible writer who should kill myself. (c) Like the plot and the writing of this story but have finished reading it and are bored because you can't find enough Sinoto to sate your hunger for this marvelous pairing. Or (d) none of the above, in which case, check it out anyways, you are, after all, on the ninth chapter of a Sinoto fic so it's time to come out of the closet and realize your love for this adorable, yet morbid pairing._

_Oh man that was a long A/N… ^_^ read on._

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 9: The Black Swordsman Part 1

* * *

Sinon and Kirito were eating at their favorite restaurant a little cheesecake place on floor fifteen, and there were never more than three other people there. The owner was a nice woman with hair that always seemed to be a different shade of deep blue, and she made the best cheesecake in all of Aincrad, though she would never admit it. It was always quiet there, both inside the restaurant and out, so it was also one of the most peaceful spots in the town. But today was different, through the window they saw a man crying and running around talking frantically to anyone that would listen. "Hey Sinon," He said breaking the very comfortable silence between them, "I'm going to go check out what's happening outside."

"Ok. I'll stay here.

"He started to leave but said, "Don't eat my cheesecake."

A mischievous grin appeared on her face, "Sssuuuuuurrreee Kirito-kun."

He looked back at her annoyed, looking as if he was going to say something and then turned and left.

Sinon looked on as Kirito began talking with the man, he was a teenager, but the fear and panic in his eyes made him look older, and like someone who had just lost a close friend. Something caught her eye, it was large and blue, it looked like a teleport crystal, but it was bigger. She realized what it was, it was a corridor crystal, an incredibly expensive, one time use item that allowed the transportation of large numbers of players at once. Why would some random stranger just give an item like that to Kirito? She looked back to the window, the man was smiling now, but his face was still stained with tears. They shook hands, and the man's eyes took on a tone of justice and revenge rather than the anguish they held just moments ago. Kirito opened the door, there was the sound of a small silver bell tied to the inside of the door to inform all within that it was being opened. She looked over to the source of the sound and smiled warmly, she couldn't help it. Something about that idiot made her heart flutter, and she loved it.

* * *

He turned to face her and, noticing her smile, smiled back. He didn't know why she was smiling. He didn't know why he was smiling. He didn't usually smile. He didn't usually interact with people, much less enjoy their company, but she was an exception. It wasn't that he liked her, they had something deeper than that. It wasn't that he loved her, he didn't love anybody. He just liked to be around her. They were similar, they had both been there when the black cats got wiped out, they had both been there when they thought the first boss killed all those people, and both of those times she was what got him through it. Strength was just a number in this death game, and there was no was to be strong enough to save everybody. There was no level that would allow you to be strong enough to overcome the anguish of people you cared for dying in front of you. There were only friends to help with that. Friends were the only way to beat this game. Friends were the only way to reach the end. Friends to depend on, friends to push you, friends to comfort you friends to distract you from this morbid existence, that's what friends were for. That's why she was one of the very few he dared to call his friend.

He shook his head and sat at the table, pulling out the corridor crystal.

"What's that for?" She asked skeptically.

"We're going to catch us some PKers." He replied.

Sinon had always hated PKers. Everyone hated PKers. But she hated them the most. They killed and killed and killed, and all the while they enjoyed it, it was unforgivable. Killing was terrible, everybody knew that, but not everybody has killed someone… she had. It was disgusting, and she hoped never to be in a position where it was necessary. And it disgusted her that there were people who would do such a thing for pleasure. She wished to rid this world and the real world of them, but not through more murder, they deserved worse.

"How?"

"There's a guild called Laughing Coffin…"

"Yeah," She said morosely, "I've heard of them. They're the strongest red guild, right? But none of their members are particularly strong. Still, we should bring a lot of back up."

"There's one problem though, we need to find them. We aren't going after the whole guild, that would be suicide, we're going to find the members of one of their strongest parties, a party that killed that man's entire guild," He gestured out the window, "And we're going to send them to the Army's prison under Blackiron Palace."

* * *

She looked out the window, the sun was setting now and they were still a ways from their inn. "Let's go back, we can start this quest tomorrow." She said, finishing his cheesecake.

Kirito wore a confused look for several seconds staring from to the now empty plate in front of the blue haired girl, and the place where his cheesecake used to be. Something in his mind clicked and he exclaimed, "HEY THAT'S MY CHEESECAKE! GIVE IT BACK YOU THIEF!"

She grinned slyly and slid around to Kirito's side of the booth. "I can give you a taste... If you want?" She said mockingly, draping her arms over his shoulders and moving her face mere centimeters from his.

He was stunned, his heart pounded uncomfortably, no it wasn't uncomfortable, it was exciting. He wanted this. But he just sat there spacing out in her beautiful aqua marine eyes. Those eyes. They were wondrous, filled with joy and mischief, and utterly beautiful to behold, yet they contained something else. Some extreme sadness, some terrible secret, something he knew she would never reveal to him. But still, he yearned to know the secret of those eyes, he didn't care what it was she thought she needed to hide, he knew she was a good person at heart, and even if she had killed someone, he would forgive her. She wasn't one to enjoy murder, she was the furthest thing from a sadist he knew. Though wondering at it was all for naught, he would probably never know.

* * *

She gave up, she had been kidding but it didn't look like he knew that. He was just staring into her eyes, but it felt like he was somewhere—

"You're eyes are really pretty." He said.

Okay so maybe he was here, but he was probably just trying to decide whether or not he wanted to do that. "I was just kidding you know." She stated blandly.

"I know." He said, "But the frequency of you doing that kind of thing has increased drastically in the past week." He eyed her searchingly. Standing up and extending to her his hand, "I'm sure it doesn't mean anything though, you're just kidding after all." He said, completely convinced of what he was saying.

She wasn't so sure it was true though, she had been messing with him more and more recently, and it almost always seemed to have romantic implications. Maybe she did like him. No, on second thought, she probably just thought that because they had been together almost non-stop since the incident in the dungeon. After all, if she did fall in love with him, she'd have to reveal certain events to him. The picture of a man missing part of his skull, reaching out to her, with the face of one who knew true terror, and the hands of a child, stained with blood, holding the instrument of that man's demise. There was blood everywhere. There was blood on the floor, there was blood on her legs, there was blood on the wall behind the man, and there were also bits of what looked to be skull fragments and brain matter. There was blood on her mother and the rest of the bystanders. She had caused all of this blood. The man dropped his arm and slumped all the way to the floor. Dead.

* * *

"-inon! Sinon!" Cried a male voice. It was the voice of panic. She felt two hands on her shoulders and a body pressed against her. She looked around. They were still in the café, but she couldn't move. She had had another panic attack, the first one in several months, and this time it was in public. She finally had the strength to move again, and she wrapped her arms around the figure in front of her.

"Ki-Kirito?" She asked timidly

He pushed away slightly, just enough to gaze into her eyes and confirmed that she was all right. "Yes Sinon." He replied, "Are you al—"

"Promise me something, Kirito." She demanded, trying not to let her panic into her voice.

"Anything." He said.

She looked down at her lap briefly and began to fidget, but then returned to the soft comfort of his gaze. "Never leave me." She stated, "Promise me, that you'll never leave me ev—"

It was his turn to interrupt her this time, "I'd never." He stated , "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried." He joked trying to lighten the mood. He returned to his previous tone of caring and sincerity, "Sinon, I don't care what it is that you think you need to hide from me, you're a good person. And… and I care a lot about you, I don't abandon people I care about.

For the first time in this death game, Sinon was happy. She felt that Kirito was the most important thing in the world at that moment, though she'd never tell him that. He made her feel protected and comforted. She felt like she could depend on him. She felt like she wasn't alone anymore, even though he had been there all along. She felt like she finally had a real friend. She felt like she wanted to kiss him and she did.

It was like the last time, just a quick kiss, if he had blinked he would've missed it, but he didn't. Unlike last time, it was full of joy as opposed to fear, and it was wonderful. "What was that for?" he asked smugly.

"I'm just glad I finally have a friend." She said, burying her head in his chest.

* * *

_A/N: Ok guys, I've got some important notes in this one._

_R&amp;R Please y'all, it means a lot when you give me feedback, it makes me want to write more, it makes me feel like I'm not just tossing a stack of papers onto the Metro tracks that are the internet, only to have them be shredded by the next train to come along._

_Updating will be slower: probably Monday or Friday at most once a week._

_Chapters will be longer: I will no longer post 1.5k chapters, all chapters from here on out will be at least 2k but usually 2.5k-3k_

_Romance will be stronger: Sinon and Kirito will be a thing soon also…_

_Incredibly awkward Girl X ? : Possibly, I haven't really decided let me know if you're ok with this in the comments._

_Writing will be more detailed and slower; I will start to suck slightly less. _

_No more two week breaks in writing, I've gotten school under control, I ran out of my WoW subscription, and I beat all of my games, so unless life decides it hates me I should be able to start a regular posting schedule._

_I'm always in need of Beta testers so P.M. me for that and I'll be forever grateful._

_If you have ideas for the story that you would rather tell me directly instead of just posting in the comments, P.M. me._

_If you don't really have a reason but you think I'm a totally awesome writer, don't P.M. me. See a psychiatrist, you are obviously delusional._

_Thank you to my beta readers: Ph1n4I, and Kyrito_

_Anyways, that's all I have to say _


	10. The Black Swordsman Part 2

_A/N: Hey there readers! How have you been? Are you mad that I haven't posted in a while, even though I said specifically in the last chapter that I wouldn't do that anymore? Well you know how I said unless life decides to screw with me? Well it did. I got completely addicted to Robocraft._

_Anyways(1), how about episode ten of SAO II, wasn't it just the cutest thing ever, and its ironic that I just did that scene in the previous chapter. Gahh you guys probably don't care about my thoughts, COMMENTS!_

_ Revisions to last chapter's end note: When I said Girl X ? I was trying to explain a pairing Like Girl X Boy. I do not intend to introduce anymore OC's anytime soon… I think._

_Reviews:_

_Salaeren: I don't beat myself up over it, and I LOVE writing Sinoto. Strengths, haha that was good. Really? YAYAYAY. If you call the speed I update rushing, I'd hate to see what you think is slow. I don't compromise, I just enjoy the input of my readers, usually I'm to immersed in the overall plot line, and its maze of twists, that often overlook the little things. No problem, and I'm glad to hear it._

_Fundindar: My thinking exactly. Oh cool… What new attitude? Did I change? Am I even me? Are any of us ourselves?! *cough* Umm what. Yes that was terrible wording, but I know what you meant, yes exactly. My goal is to suck even less, slightly more._

_llLiebell: Hehe. You're in good company._

_AlexCaffri: Awwe. And here I was thining you had forgotten about me. Wait there was a party? Was I invited? Did I go? Was it fun? Why were you late? Was there dancing? I'm not good at dancing. I'm not good at parties. I'm not good at people. I think I'll just sit in my dark empty peopleless dancingless partyless corner of the internet and write the imaginary plots of imaginary characters in imaginary stories in imaginary worlds. If it was adorable, then I've succeeded at life. I can finally leave this cruel world. I swear I'm the same exact person I was at the beginning of the fic. I despise change, almost as much as light and human interaction. It is adorable, because it's Sinoto. Really? Good. I thought gay and straight ships were too mainstream so this is a thing now… It's not meta._

_Guest: Diagnosis: DELUSIONAL! Gosh what's with you people. I like "the Kirito x Sinon thing" as well. Go back and read the rating of this fanfic, I really don't want the admins to delete this, so no thank you. Also, I am highly unlikely to write a lemon, I don't write smut, especially for Sinoto, they're to cute and emotional to do that to in my opinion. Thank you for reading. ^_^_

_Radar: Obviously your radar isn't that good. This fic is mediocre at best. I'm hardly the story you should read if you want the best fanfiction for Sinoto. My suggestions are Snow Storm, and Gun Gale Online: Angled Sights._

_Speaking of Sinoto, check out the community page. This can be viewed either through my profile, or [Sinoto]. That'd be cool of you._

_Anyways(2), if you don't read the A/N's I don't hold it against you, if you do: See you at the bottom! ^_^ I forgot to do this at the end of the last chapter so: ^_^_

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 10: The Black Swordsman Part 2

* * *

They were in a forest, The Forest of Wandering. Kirito looked intensely at the ground, activating his [Tracking] skill once more. He saw four pairs of tracks, one of them was smaller and more feint than the others. All of them appeared to be running: a chase.

Sinon was walking a ways behind Kirito. Between them was silence. They were tracking three members of the red-guild Laughing Coffin, and Kirito seemed to think that they were chasing someone, and knowing their guild, they probably weren't playing hide and seek.

They came to a small clearing, it was night out. Kirito looked down once more, the tracks split the fainter ones went straight while the other three seemed to have lingered around at the edge of the clearing before abrupt running back the direction close to the one from which they came. Kirito was about to just ignore the lone tracks, but then he heard a scream. It was a girl. His head snapped around and looked in the direction of the scream. He wanted to help whoever it was that was in trouble, yet he also wanted to capture those sick bastards from Laughing Coffin. The two of them had been tracking the murderers for two weeks, and they might never get this close again. He was pulled from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. It was Sinon's, she looked into his eyes giving him a feint, knowing smile, and nodded, taking off in the direction of the murderers. He smiled as he ran towards the person in trouble. She was the best.

As she ran, she swiped her menu open. The motion was second nature to her now, she took out her bow and equipped her arrows and daggers without even looking. At times it seemed like she had lived in this world her whole life. At times she even wondered why she was trying to get out. There was nothing of her old life here. For the first time since she was six she wasn't being treated like a freak. And no one, even him, knew what she had done, though he seemed to have guessed at pretty close to what it was. Suddenly she heard voices, slowing down and closing her distance more covertly.

Ahead of her were three figures. They were all wearing light brown, tattered linen cloaks. Their HP bars were all Slightly below full, suggesting a recent fight. She opened her menu and messaged Kirito. _[Hey. Caught up to LC players. I'll tail them and try to hear what they're talking about. Msg me when you're done.]_

Just moments later a message from Kirito appeared _[K. Stay safe. I'm almost to where the scream came from. I'll come as soon as I can. Don't you dare try to fight them!]_

* * *

Kirito closed his menu and sprinted into a clearing drawing his sword. Before him were three of the hardest monsters on this floor [Drunk Ape]. Fighting only one of them they were no problem, but if you're solo, and can't do enough damage quickly, they'll use their gourds to heal back to full health while one of the others fights. He was seeing this happen right before his eyes. A girl, ten maybe, was fighting one using a dagger. Behind it was another, its health in the red but going up quickly. Kirito ran towards the fight. Suddenly the girl fumbles, falling to her knees. The ape raised its club, reading a killing blow. He wouldn't get there in time. The ape brought down its club. Kirito winced. A fast moving blue object moved in front of the girl, intercepting the blow. It exploded into crystalline sparkling feathers. Kirito used this delay to burst foreword spinning and activating a horizontal at the same time. He sailed through the air, the world a blur. His blade made contact, once… twice… thrice… he landed, crouching his fist on the ground and his sword arm extended behind him. Three explosions were heard. He stood up, looking at the girl with sad eyes. She slumped and a tear rolled down her cheek. She had the look of one who's best friend had just died. He opened his mouth, then hesitated, afraid to break the somber silence. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your friend," He said.

She gave him a forced smile and said, "No it was stupid of me to get lost in this forest all alone, thank you for saving me."

She was clutching something in her right hand. He looked more closely, it was a blue feather. "Check to see if that feather has an item name. If it does you can still revive it." She poked the feather and a item window popped up. He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. "I've got a friend in trouble, but I can explain on the way." He explained. She started to stutter something but he cut her off, "On the forty-seventh floor there's a field dungeon. At the end of it theirs a rare item called the [Pneuma Flower] its capable of reviving a familiar." By now he had let go of her hand and continued, "I would go myself but the owner of the familiar has to be there and the heart item will degrade to a memento if it's not revived in three days. I assume your level is decent so with the help of my friend we should have no problem clearing it." He opened his menu and navigated to his friends list, messaging Sinon, _[I'm done, and I'll have company, don't shoot.]_

Several seconds later a reply appeared in his menu, _[Ok I'll be waiting, away from the LC players]_

Kirito opened his map and checked that they were going in the right direction, they were. He looked to his left, the girl was still running beside him. "I'm Kirito by the way, I guess I haven't introduced myself."

She looked back at him, her eyes still red from crying, "Silica."

They ran for several minutes more before hearing something behind them hit the ground, it sounded like a person dropping out of a tree. Both of them immediately drew their weapons, turning around. Before them crouched a cute girl with blue hair.

"Hey now none of that, and Kirito-kun, what have I told you about bringing back little girls with you when you go off saving people." She teased.

"Aww… but Sino-chi I just couldn't resist." He wined.

The girl looked on at this exchange in confusion. She had automatically assumed that this "Friend" was a guy, and she never expected them to be a couple. He didn't seem like the romantic type when he saved her, but seeing the way these two looked at each other they were obviously in love.

* * *

After a brief pause of stifled giggles Sinon said, "So we should probably finish our mission."

"Yes. But first. This is Silica, Sinon" He said to Sinon, indicating the little girl at his side, "And this is Sinon, Silica." He said to Silica, indicating the older girl. "We're both clearers from KoB. I need to ask you some questions."

"Questions, about what?

"Did you know the three men that were following you"

"Who are you talking about?" She asked, still confused.

"I'll take that as a no," He noted.

"How did they lose health then?" Sinon wondered out loud.

"What do you mean Sinon?" Asked Kirito

"Well when I started following them, they were all a little damaged."

Something in Kirito clicked, "A mob PK" He exclaimed, "The three LC members must've aggroed the drunk apes onto you, that's probably why their tracks were all weird at the edge of the clearing, is my guess anyways. We need to capture these murderers."

Kirito's face immediately took on a far more serious expression. It was an expression so morbid and void of emotion that no teenager should know it. Sadly, this pain was on all SAO players shared, almost everyone had friends who died before their very eyes, to powerless to save them, Silica was sure Kirito was no different.

The two started to walk off in a seemingly random direction, but then Kirito stopped and turned around. "Silica-chan," He started, sending her a trade request which she curiously accepted, "Take these they should boost you a few levels, stay here until we get back, were going somewhere really dangerous." He explained, dropping into the trade GUI a small fortune in rare equipment.

"Here…" Started the girl, adding gold to the trade, "I'm sure this won't be enough t—"

"Nah. You don't need to pay me."

This earned him a small jab in the ribs from Sinon.

"I mean I'll eventually need the equipment back of course." He continued, covering expertly.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense, I mean you can't just give every girl you save thousands of col worth of equipment."

"Anyways we'll be back… actually if we're not back in forty five minutes, wait at the inn nearest the teleport gate for a day, and if we're not back by then…" He trailed off. Glancing at the girls face and the look of horror on it he continued, "But we'll probably have no problems and be back in twenty minutes."

And with that they walked off, welting into the green of the forest, headed straight for the Laughing Coffin Base and maybe, a trap.

(Insert dramatic anime end song with a touch of suspense here)

* * *

_A/N: Oh yes. I did write an entire chapter with no actual content… Sue me! _

_Sorry that was mean. Promise I'll update soon. With a chapter that has content._

_I'd like to give a shout out to my beta testers (The three players who read the fic before y'all do, finding all the bugs and reporting them) Ph1n4l, kyrito, and Furrballnerd. Ty, you guys are awesome._

_I'm revising the first chapter now so if you thought it was terrible (I thought it was) you can go back and read it again. It will have more content and flow better, I hope. Also, if you want an Arc 2 hint/preview, I've hidden something in the first half of the first chapter that will make the second arc not come as a complete out of the blue hit you with a 1000 ton weight kind of plot twist, so i suggest that if you love this fic you read that.__  
_

_Sorry for the erratic and slow updates, I've just been… *sigh* stuff._

_Anyways(3), _

_Sinoto: It's a great community._

_R&amp;R: Do this, it helps me plus you get to see your name in the next chapter, how fun is that._

_P.M.: This is a great thing to use to call me a "fag who should stop writing and kill myself" I feel like not enough people are telling me this. I mean really guys, I think that's like the sole purpose of P.M.'s and no one has used them correctly yet, it's always like 'Good job', or 'you're not bad' or some other positive comment._

_Anything else: better than this_

_Anyways(4), that's all I have to say, Peace Off ^_^_


	11. The Black Swordsman Part 3

_A/N: Hi, this is Posiden666, author of 'The Archery Skill._

_Anyways(1), a few quick things before I get to the chapter:_

_I am, again, really sorry about the update schedule (If you could call it that). Fortunately, I have been spending this time creating an actual plot for this arc, so I won't be just making it up as I go along anymore._

_Reviews:_

_Alex: I do. You did. *pats on head* I felt like it (I didn't want to, I just had writers block(You know the kind that lasts for weeks) so I thought I'd break it there to get an update, and it seemed like an ok place, and I love twists and suspense), also because I'm a bad writer. That brings me to my next point: GAHH! LIES!_

_Patient 0 Zero: I know, I'm trying to be better about that._

_Fundindar: Yeah, I hate how the anime depicts that entire scene. The LN version is soooo much different and better. Yes, well I mean not cover blades precisely but just a game in general it's just so… so… so… well if you play the game, you know. How's that funny? I'm tired of you guys telling me that I'm a good writer, I'm not! ^_^_

_Sexy Sinon: [WARNING]: [ADORABLENESS AHEAD]. I think that is probably my favorite part of the story so far. Criticize, nag, do whatevs, as long as it's input, its greatly appreciated. If you do: P.M. me… or umm… write longer reviews I guess. Anyways(2) Thank you for your review(s)._

_Wow, only 4 reviews. R&amp;R?_

_If you like what I do here, and you want me to try to find more decent plots to twist into terrible monstrosities: consider reviewing, that would be cool of you._

_Check out Sinoto, you know the community page. No seriously, you have to do this, if you've gotten this far in the story that means you love this pairing enough to suffer my terrible writing, so as a present yourself, you should go to this page, and read all of the actually good Sinoto fanfics. Go to this place to do that thing: community/Sinoto/111446/99/0/1/0/0/0/0/_

_And hey, thanks._

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 11: The Black swordsman Part 3

* * *

Kirito and Sinon walked through the forest, their eyes to the ground. The tracks of the three laughing coffin numbers were getting less faint now, the stride lengths in the footsteps were also getting shorter, suggesting they were no longer running. Glancing up, what appeared to be a large hill, walking towards it were the three members of laughing coffin they had been tracking the past two weeks. Quickly, each of them ducked behind the nearest tree. Using his [Listening] skill (a sub-skill of [Search]) Kirito managed to overhear most of what they were saying.

"I don't get it." One of the murderers remarked.

"What?"

"I haven't gotten any items yet, those dumb apes should've killed her by now."

"Maybe you missed your throwing pick, and didn't get credited with the kill."

"No, there's no way I missed."

"Maybe someone saved her," The other one remarked sarcastically.

"Ha! Like that would happen there is no one around for miles."

They all started laughing.

"She probably just bought them off for too long and you are discredited the kill."

"Yeah you're right. That seems probable. Well at least we still get paid."

"Oh, bases just up ahead!" The one in the middle, who hadn't spoken the whole time, exclaimed.

Kirito's eyes burned with anger: how could they speak about something like murder so nonchalantly. It made him furious. He looked over at Sinon. She had a similar face, but hers was stained with terror. The trio walked to the base of the hill. One of the murderers, the one in the middle, drew his foot back and kicked a large rock. There was a rumbling sound, one of stone scraping against stone. Next to them a large boulder split in two revealing that it was merely a facade concealing a tunnel into the hill.

From inside the tunnel footsteps could be heard. It was a man. He was tall and slim with rather long brown hair. He was dressed in white knight's armor and a white cape. Across the front of his breastplate was… Kirito gasped, it was crimson cross, the symbol of the KoB. He glanced at Sinon, her mouth agape. "Kirito-kun…" She started, "Isn't that Kurdeel, one of the newer members of the guild…"

He looked at the man again, also noting that he had an orange marker. She was right that he was KoB, Diabel had even talked to him about this man after he recruited him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it… "Yeah…" He said, "I remember now, Diabel said that he was an expert two-handed swordsman, and would be a great addition to our guild… but that it would best to keep an eye on him."

"I guess he was right." Sinon said, "Quiet, they're talking."

"Welcome home, my brothers!" Exclaimed Kurdeel. "Did your hunting go well?"

"For the most part," The murderer on the left said, "We didn't get the girls items, but that guild leader woman, and the Silver Flags went off without a hitch, sir.

"Excellent, I'll inform our clients immediately."

People paid these murderers to do their killing, Kirito was disgusted. The four began to move into the tunnel, so he had to act quickly. "Sinon?"

"Yeah." She said already pulling her bow off her back along with an arrow.

"Cover me."

"Roger." Her arrow was nocked, already aiming. Her expression cold, like machine, made of ice.

He darted to the nearest tree, sliding his Elucidator off his back, its weight giving him strength. He held up his hand, closed his eyes and inhaled. He was ready, he had to stop these murderers before they killed anyone else… even if he had to end their lives in the process.

He crouched. His eyes flashed open, glinting gold momentarily. His hand dropped. He exploded out of the bush, an arrow accompanying him. It struck true, the upper spinal column of the center player, paralyzing him immediately. He prepared his swing, directed at the legs of the player on the left. His target was too slow to doge, and was now missing his right leg, the other badly damaged. The two remaining players drew their weapons.

"Ahh, Kirito-dono, and I assume the archer is the beautiful Sinon-dono?" He asked, letting only a little bit of psychotic into his voice.

She stepped out of the woods, arrow nocked, "Surrender or we will use excessive force."

"Awwe, Sinon-dono," He pouted, "Why so cold?"

"Because you're a disgusting creature who doesn't have the right to exist."

"But if you kill me, what will that make you?" He argued smugly.

Her eyes flashed with anger, "I don't have to kill you, just disable you. Or make you to surrender." She liked her lips sadistically, trying to scare him to surrender.

"Ohhh Sinon-dono," He moaned, "I didn't know you were into that." He took a step towards her, his grin widening, "Now I'm going to enjoy this sooo much more." He took another step, "Why don't we go have some fun, Sinon-dono." He started walking towards her faster. It was more than she could handle. She released her arrow.

She heard a clash of swords, probably between Kirito and the other bastard, but she couldn't think about that right now.

Kurdeel stumbled, an arrow stuck into his forehead. His grin faded. A memory played across her mind. It was similar to what she was seeing now. It was a man. There was red liquid… everywhere. It was coming from his head. The man was reaching towards her. She knew this memory too well. His hand gripped a sword. She heard the sound of glass shattering, faintly. The man was stumbling towards her, sword raised. This wasn't right. She was outside; the man she had shot was looming over her; his sword coming down on her head in slow motion. She deserved this. Her life was at its end. She heard a faint voice call her name. The sword was centimeters from her head now. She closed her eyes. She heard the familiar sound of a virtual sword cutting virtual flesh. And she heard the painful sound that was made when a player bursts into a cloud of polygons, never to exist in any world again, real, or virtual. It was over, she was finally dead… But she didn't feel dead. She opened her eyes, surprised that she still had eyes. A boy with black hair and black eyes, wearing a black shirt, with a black cloak and black pants, fell to his knees in front of her, his black sword thudding to the ground. He embraced her in a warm hug. Her nerves were still numb, but she could feel his pain. She wrapped her arms around the boy. Her ears stopped ringing, she hadn't realized when they had started doing that. She felt something wet on her shoulder and heard the boy sob softly.

"Sinon, I've done something terrible." He said quietly.

"Kirito?" She asked sadly.

"I've just killed two people, am I a monster?" Came a scratchy whisper, laden with the pain of someone who had killed.

She shook her head softly, "You're too good of a person to be a monster Kirito."

"Sinon," He pulled away slightly, which she allowed, grudgingly, "I've already promised never to leave you, but…" He looked down briefly before returning to her gaze, his eyes wet with sorrow, yet burning with passion, "After all this time with you, I… I need you Sinon… I don't know what I'd be without you-" He paused briefly, more tears rolling down his cheeks, "-And that scares me."

She was shocked, he felt so fragile in her arms, not the fearless black swordsman, but just an ordinary boy, filled with anguish because of her selfishness. She smiled slightly, her eyes dampening, "I promise… I promise I'll never leave you either Kiri-"

She felt something soft brush her lips. His face was much closer now. She didn't need words. She let the tear that had been welling up in her eye fall. She pulled him towards her, embracing him tightly. Their lips joined, and she smiled into their kiss.

They stayed like that until they could no longer hold their breath. They reluctantly separated and just hugged, wrapped in the warmth of the other's company, neither wanted to move, time passed, though neither knew how much.

* * *

After a while he heard a soft voice ask, "Hey Kirito?"

"Yeah."

"Mmmm…" She nuzzled his neck, "Nothing." She giggled.

He kissed her forehead, as much as I'd like to continue…" He started, "We still have business to attend to." He looked over at the two red-players, who appeared to be unconscious, probably from pain. He stood up and extended a hand to her, which she accepted.

Sinon watched as he opened his menu, producing the corridor crystal. As he opened the corridor and dragged the unconscious players into it, she couldn't stop thinking about what had just occurred. He, the 'completely oblivious to girls' Kirito, had just kissed her. And had said that he 'needed' her. Just thinking about it made her blush.

She was pulled from her thoughts by his stare. "What are you looking at," She said, trying to cover her cheeks.

"Nothing," He said, obviously suppressing a chuckle, "You just look cute when your face is all red like that."

"Stop being an idiot, let's go home. I'm starving," She said, walking over to him and covering her face with her scarf, but also grasping his hand. He didn't complain.

"Hey Sinon," Kirito asked, "Can you message Zoë with the map coordinates of this place, so that she can send a raid party here, that tunnel looked like it was probably their base, and if we can help arrest even more of those sick bastards, we'd be doing everyone in this world a favor.

"Sure"

As they walked towards the nearest teleport gate Kirito opened his menu to message Silica. _ We're done, lets meet up at the café by the teleport gate. _He closed his UI and looked up, but received a reply so fast, Silica must've typed it before he messaged her. _KIRITO! Thank god, you're alive. I was worried, it's been more than an hour since you left. I assumed the worst. Ok, sounds great. C U Soon._

Hmm… That girl is weird. And wow, over an hour.

"Zoë says she's sending a party of twelve, Asuna, and Diabel. And she's also contacting the Holy Dragon Alliance and some other small guilds we're on good terms with." Sinon stated.

"That should be good enough."

* * *

The café was warm and cozy, and the cheesecake was pretty good, although it paled in comparison to Molly's on floor fifteen. Sinon and Kirito were seated across from the girl, who had arrived before them and had already eaten hers. The two were holding hands out of Silica's view and giving eachother occasional shy glances but she didn't seem to notice. "So?" She asked, "I assume you two are clearers, by the amount of stuff you lent me. And I also assume you're from KoB, given you both have a cross on your armor. Am I correct?"

"Yup"

"Yes"

"So now tell me, what were you doing on a floor like this."

A shadows covered their faces, and Kirito replied, "I'd rather not… if you don't mind."

Silica took one look at their faces and knew she had gone way too far. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It's fine, but we should be finding an inn soon," Kirito said glancing at the clock in his HUD.

"Though there is one more thing we'd like to ask you, Silica," Sinon started, "Did you happen to find a throwing pick in you during or after your fight with the apes?"

"Noo…" Silica responded, "Actually, wait, I found this on the ground after you saved me," she continued, producing from her inventory, a throwing pick, "I guess I just assumed it was yours."

Kirito inspected the thin spike further, "Nope," He said, "I guess that confirms our suspicions. Now, about that inn. I can't wait to get some sleep." He said, briefly making eye contact with Sinon but looking away quickly.

"Yeah… me neither…" Sinon started, "Umm, Silica-chan, are you staying anywhere right now? If we stay in the same inn as you we can start for the hill of memories earlier tomorrow."

"Good idea, I'm staying in the place next door."

"Let's go then," Kirito said finishing the last of his cheesecake. As he stood up and slipped his hand from hers, which made Sinon feel a little emptier inside, and a lot colder.

Silica paid, claiming it was the least she could offer for all the things they were doing for her. They walked next door. The inn was a plain looking, three story wooden building, it didn't seem to be a particularly expensive inn, not that they couldn't afford it, they had over eight million col between the two of them, but it didn't look like the sketchy 20 col per night inns that had locks that a player with a [Lock Picking] skill of ten could break into, it looked right in the middle, which was the best kind. They walked inside and stepped up to the counter and rented one room. Silica gave them a weird look, "Don't you guys have enough to get two rooms?" She asked quizzically.

"Yeah," Kirito replied, "We just always get one room and sleep in different beds. Unless there's only one, then I take the floor."

"We've just been doing it since day one, literally, and habits are hard to break. Plus that's a little more col we can use to upgrade our weapons with." Sinon continued.

"Well I can't argue with that logic," Silica said yawning, "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Night" they said in unison.

Now alone again Kirito took Sinon's hand ant they ascended the staircase. "Hey Kirito?" She asked as they approached their room, "Did you get one with two beds?" She secretly hoped the answer was no.

"I didn't specify. It's not like it matters anyway. We almost never get what we ask for when it comes to inns."

"Oh. Ok." She took a deep breath and opened the door. There were two beds.

Usually Kirito cheered when this happened but this time he just sighed and said, "I guess we got good luck."

* * *

Sinon was staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Images of Kurdeel killing her kept playing out in her head. She had, several times, almost called out to Kirito, to ask him if she could sleep with him. But she had stopped herself, thinking about how awkward that would be. She figured that he was also probably sleeping. She rolled over to glance over at Kirito, who had the back of his hand on his forehead, and the moonlight glinting off of his still open eyes. He was wearing his casual black shirt, for her sake. She always insisted that he leave the room while she got ready for bed, being far too shy and embarrassed to let him see what she slept in. She smiled to herself; in this light he was so cute. She saw his lips curve upwards into a smile, as if he'd read her thought. His smile faded, and he turned his head so he was staring into her eyes. "Hey Sinon?" He asked timidly.

"Yeah, Kirito?"

"I-I can't sleep."

"Me neither." She said, hiding the excitement in her voice.

"Could I…" He sighed nervously, which she found kinda cute, "Could I sleep with you tonight," He asked, in a voice so soft that if it hadn't been exactly what she wanted to hear, she wouldn't have known what he said.

"Sure." She said, too quickly, "I mean I guess, its all right with me, if we sleep together… as long is you don't try anything." She covered, expertly.

Kirito began to get up but he heard Sinon say, "No it's alright."

He looked over at her, confused, only to see her sliding out of bed. She was wearing a light green not-quite-opaque nightgown, which clung to her body very tightly, and her perfect figure, was gorgeously illuminated by the moonlight. She held her hands behind her back, and was looking away from him, a deep crimson covering her face. He looked away, expecting to receive a blow, but was pleasantly surprised to find instead, two arms wrap themselves around his torso. Sinon pulled herself closer to him, her chest pressing lightly against his back, and a voice next to his ear ask, "Is something wrong Kirito?"

"No," He started, turning around, safely maintaining eye contact; "You just caught me by surprise." He said kissing her softly.

"Then let's go to sleep," She said, nestling under the covers and looking at him expectantly."

"Ok." He said sliding back into the warmth of the comforter, and Sinon's embrace, which he returned. "Thank you, Sinon."

"No Kirito, thank you," She muttered into his chest.

* * *

_A/N: Hope I didn't butcher it too bad._

_Please Read AND Review, this helps me a lot, and I really appreciate knowing people are actually reading my story. It's also a great way to tell me I suck. Also, you get to see your name at the beginning of the next chapter, how fun is that._

_Another method of telling me this is through P.M., also you can tell me your ideas on what you think I should do to the plot, or your ideas on what might happen that might spoil the story for other viewers._

_Anyways(2), thanks to Furrballnerd for helping me with phrasing, and content issues. And thank you to Kyrito, Ph1n4l, for pointing out my typos and grammar mistakes. Ty y'all are awesome._

_I don't need anymore beta testers, but if you want to do that thing still, I'll accept, I do make a lot of errors._

_Sinoto: [1] n. the combination of Sinon and Kirito (The most adorable pairing) [2] n. It's the community devoted to this pairing. [3] n. The name for this pairing that you should start using around the Internet so it will catch on._

_Oh and again, sorry for the slow updates. You know, life._

_Oh, I'm also sorry about how terrible this was/is/will be._

_Anyways(3), that's all I have to say, ^_^_


	12. The Guild

_A/N: ~Posiden666: Hey guys, it's been ... still a really long time, darn. i wrote the first 2k words of this like three days after posting Ch 11, and then wrote like only 400 a week… sorry._

_Anyways, I'm finishing this as a birthday present to myself, and decided to share it with all of you._

_This chapter may be on the boring side, it's going to focus on all the main characters, and develop the setting and details, as well as give you an idea of what's going on outside of Sinon and Kirito's little personal universe. Again, sorry. But do not fear, cute will occur. _

_Reviews:_

_Vault166: No, I wouldn't do that... But that would've been funny. Thanks... I guess._

_Salaeren: Wow, that was beautiful, and inspirational. Thank you._

_Are all the names used: Glad you like it... I guess._

_AlexCaffri: Awwe, thanks._

_(guest)MysticBlackLynx: Glad you liked it. OMG IKR I LLOOVVEEEE this pairing. Thank you, i guess. _

_(guest)TheForsakenOne: Yes, she is. I don't know i guess you'll have to wait and see ^_^_

_Pyrohellgunner: I'm just not as good of a writer as you guys seem to think I am._

_Symbiote2254: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it._

_Hobbysaurus: This romance has exponential growth. Dont worry._

_(guest)SexySinon: For a guest you sure do review more than most Users. Good for you. I'll try!_

_(guest)Hh…: Umm… … … … … … … … … … ^_^_

_(guest)Sexy: Yes, I know. I assure you: I will never abandon this story. I try. I really do. I've had eight papers due in the past three weeks, and a bunch of personal things that I won't bore you with going on recently. I will try to update with 3k every 1.5 weeks from now on. But knowing me… It probably won't._

_(guest)MOARROMANCEPLZ: Thank you. I know, I know… Its just… Life. Are you saying i write like a girl? I'll try._

_(guest)Unknown: It is many things, but perfect is not one. I will, I swear. It's because Sinon is 100% better than Asuna. And i will be writing one._

_(guest)secretsinotofan: Poseidon is a god, ~Posiden666 is not, I'm just a lousy writer. I will, don't worry. Thank you, I appreciate the support._

_(guest)Kinon: Hmm… i've never heard any of those, I just made up the word Sinoto, and started using it. (If i'm not the first to use this name, i'm sorry i'm not ripping you off, I just thought I made it up because I'd never heard it before)_

_(guest)Guest: I've been over this before, Sinon still never used the mirror. Thanks._

_Anonymos112: Thanks! I'll try._

_Stormagedon69: Okay… _

_(guest)Ayo: I'll try. Yeah… sorry about the wait. Thanks!_

_ : Magnificent may be a little bit of an overstatement _

_Hey, you like what I do here, and you like what other people do as well, consider following [Sinoto], it's where all the good Sinon x Kirito fics are._

_One last thing, Zoë is pronounced Zoëy. It's just supposed to look german… for plot reasons. _

_Now on to the important stuff._

_And hey, thanks._

_**Warning: I'm pretty sure this is T rated. **_

* * *

The Archery Skill

Chapter 12: The Guild

* * *

**Two weeks after helping Silica resurrect Pina,** Kirito and Sinon have succeeded in not letting anyone find out they are together. The two now stand, clutching each other's hand, at the back of the largest raid party ever assembled, before the doors to the boss room in the fiftieth floor boss room.

* * *

"Today's battle marks the halfway point in this struggle to free ourselves from this virtual prison that Akihiko Kayaba has imprisoned us in." Zoë said to the party, "Today, we must show him our strength, we must show him our will, and we must show him that we are determined to beat this game. We must fight; for if we do not, we have already lost." She continued, her charisma flowing over every player in the room. Her [Leadership] skill was also probably granting everyone minor assorted buffs. "Many have already died. And more still will continue to die." She said somberly, "But if we don't fight, if we don't win, the toll shall be far greater. This will not be an easy battle. It is likely that not all of you will survive. But those who die shall not do so in vain; it is the noblest of sacrifices." She glared around at all of them, sweeping them with a gaze. "But it will not be sacrifice if I force you to fight. This must be your own battle, your own rage fuelling the swing of your sword on the field. You must choose now, for the choice to stay is not a light one. I will not begrudge you the right to your life." Nobody moved. Zoë's mouth curved up a little, her eyes widening as she turned to face the door, "Then for those who have fallen," She pushed on the door with the flat of her palm, the thin heat of her hand seeming to awaken a great storm, thunder (or the growl of a deadly beast) that pulsed menacingly through the thick door. Kirito gave Sinon's hand one last squeeze before releasing it and drawing his sword, clenching his jaw unconsciously. Zoë pushed on the metal with a grunt, her lips drawing back from her teeth in a snarl as it swung open slowly. The players hushed in anticipation, staring down the thick void for a second. Zoë let out a breath sharply, the raised her shield in front of her, her voice piercing the still air like a valkyrie's cry. "WE. SHALL. FIGHT!"

* * *

Kirito sighed, brushing his sweaty hair out his eyes, and glanced at Zoë, who was standing in the middle of the room, her eyes closed and her hands clasped resting on her shield, her health at a little above half, despite only switching out to drink a health potion once. He had never seen her HP go into the yellow zone before. He would not like to have to fight her. She yawned, and her blue eyes flicked open, little slits of sky in her sooty face, and glanced back towards him as if she could feel him looking at her, and smiled. Kirito grinned back, then looked up at the sound of Sinon yawning. Kirito stared at her, calmed by the sight of her face, screwed up in a yawn as it was, her nose wrinkled and her eyes tight shut. She let out a breath, and looked over at him, at his searching eyes.

"Hey Kirito?" Sinon asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Lets go see what the next floor is like, and open up the gate."

"Okay." He replied getting to his feet.

* * *

**Floor 51, ****Zahnradwerk****, the City of Brass**

They stood at the exit of the of the staircase leading to the fifty-first floor, mouths agape. Before them was a sprawling metropolis. It was, from what they could see, easily the size of the town of beginnings. There were skyscrapers that almost reached the ceiling, and everything seemed to glow in the sunset as though it were made of gold. Still higher, they saw what appeared to be zeppelins and other, smaller, airships flying above the huge cityscape. It was beautiful.

Sinon tugged on Kirito's hand, "Kirito… We should buy a house here, so we don't have to keep using inns."

"Sure," He said, shrugging, "What house were you thinking?"

"A zeppelin!" She exclaimed. "Lets get a zeppelin! They're so cool."

"Yeah, that would be pretty awesome." He said, not really listening, basking in the glow of his surroundings. Sinon looked at him sharply, then softened, watching his face as he gazed transfixed over the cityscape.

"Let me check how much col we have…" She muttered, opening her inventory, "15.3 mil! That boss was worth a lot."

`"Wait, what?" Kirito blinked out of his reverie, looking over at Sinon like she had just turned into a flamingo. "What are we buying?" Sinon grabbed his hand and smiled her grin again,

* * *

"WOW!" Sinon exclaimed, pressing her face against the window of her new bedroom. "This view is amazing! Kirito come... Why are you smiling like that?"

"What?" He said, quickly looking away, "I don't know what you're talking about..." He stopped, making both of them look away and turn red with a simultaneous embarrassment. Sinon reached over and touched his forearm. "Stay here for a second."

Kirito watched the girl flip a switch on the wall, illuminating the room, though he couldn't find the light's source. Looking down, he realized the entire floor had become transparent, giving them an incredible view of the sunset-lit city of brass that made Sinon's face glow with a sudden clarity, her marble skin reflecting the gold of the landscape, smudged with a sort of modesty that made her in the image of a statue, frozen in metal. Kirito stood paralyzed, barely registering the view. "Beautiful," he muttered unconsciously, his brow furrowed above his dark eyes.

"Isn't it though..." She sighed, then looked over at him sharply when she felt his gaze. "What? Why are you looking at me like that."

"I was just-" he started, seeing her face twist into a frown.

"I'm fine, really. Stop looking at me like you're looking for a mortal wound," she said, scowling, her eyes narrowed. Kirito blushed, but refused to look away.

"I'm not looking for a wound, it's just…I..." he hesitated, rather unable to convey the sort of immense feeling that had slammed him.

He sighed, letting it go.

"I just think you might hide one from me," he moved closer to her, his brow wrinkling more when she put her hand on his cheek.

"Like anyone would get close enough to give me more than a bruise," she scoffed, not noticing his hesitation in agreeing with her, and put her hand on her hip. Kirito grinned in what he hoped was a roguish way, and moved even closer, poking the side of her abdomen.

"I think I'm close enough to get a knife in….here!" he exclaimed, and tickled her side. She stared stone-faced back at him until he stopped awkwardly, his hand falling away, his face bemused. "You're...not ticklish…?" he asked redundantly.

She tilted her head like a puppy, fake innocence oozing from her like acid. "No. Why... are you?" She grinned, her fingers threatening to press into his belly. He squeaked and danced backwards, his face paling.

"No!" he said ruefully, regretting every moment that had ever led up to this as he eyed the girl's feral grin and her dangerous fingers. He backed up until he bumped into the wall, laughing hollowly at the sight of Sinon's wiggling fingers.

She pounced forward on to the helpless boy, her fingers aimed squarely at his stomach.

Kirito closed his eyes, awaiting his demise. He had had a good run, but it was all over now. But the tickling never came, instead he heard only the sound of Sinon laughing hysterically.

"That face, it's simply ADORABLE!" She giggled, "Who knew, the 'Black Swordsman' had a weakness to tickling?"

"Shut up! It's PTSD, from my sister-" at this he heard another bout of laughter from the blue-haired girl.

"PTSD?" She asked in between stifled giggles, "From your sister?"

"Sinon," Kirito commanded, quieting the girl immediately, "You mustn't let anyone know of this… It would ruin my image."

"Kirito," she said flatly, "When did you start caring about your image."

"When I became one of the coolest players in the game."

"Wow, I mean I'm not saying you're wrong, you are probably the second highest level player in the game… but that seems a bit egotistical."

"What are you talking about," he said, looking at the girl quite confused, "I was talking about the zeppelin. Thats what really makes me the super coolest player."

"Oh," she said, a bit embarrassed, "Yup, I bet no one else has a zeppelin yet." She said, nuzzling his neck. "And it only cost 10 mil, before the furnishings."

"Uh-huh, let's go to sleep now. That boss wore me out." Kirito sighed, starting to get off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Sinon pouted.

"To the couch..." He answered, not quite sure of why she was asking.

"Nope," She said, pulling them both into the middle of the bed and rolling on top of him, "You're staying right here. I might have bad dreams... And you make me feel safe."

"But..." He tried to argue, before being rudely interrupted by the soft warmth of Sinon's lips on his. After a few seconds she pulled away, looking at him expectantly. "I mean, I guess it would be okay if I slept here tonight..."

"Good, I'm going to change now so don't look yet," She said, slipping under the covers and opening her menu.

"Oh... Yeah... Sure..." He replied, while turning away and awkwardly waiting for the girl to finish. He sat on the bed staring at the wall, wanting so badly to look. But then he scolded himself for how dishonest and perverted that would be, particularly given how shy-

"Kirito?," came a tentative voice from behind him. He turned around to find Sinon, kneeling on the bed, wearing an oversized light blue t-shirt, the hem lightly brushing her thighs. She tucked her hair behind her ears, looking resolutely away, her cheeks flushed. "Well…"

Kirito stood stupidly, staring at the blue-haired girl. Kirito opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Giggling slightly, the girl crawled over to him and draped her arms around his shoulders, "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" She asked, mockingly, but before he could reply, she had her lips pressed against his. "We've gotta meet with Zoë in the morning, so we should sleep," she said, pulling him under the covers with her and into another kiss, this one much deeper.

* * *

He heard a faint beeping sound, the volume of which was steadily growing louder. It was his alarm. It must be morning already. He started to lift his arms to rub his eyes, but found one of them stuck under something. Opening his eyes, he found one of the most adorable things he'd ever seen. Sinon was curled up next to him, her mouth slightly agape, drooling very slightly, and her hand lay loosely on the pillow beside her head, her thumb just inside her mouth. Kirito sat up slightly and brushed a lock of snowy blue hair away from her face. Yup, he thought, she's adorable. Her mouth closed and her lips curved into a smile. She nuzzled his side before sitting up. She brought her hands over her head and stretched, letting out a cute little yawn, and rubbed her eyes. Then she proceeded to straddle his hips and lay back down, on top of him, propping her chin up with her forearms, gazing into the boy's eyes, who was completely transfixed. "Sleep well... Onii-chan?" He stared at her stunned for several seconds before rubbing his eyes and staring back, "You're too cute, you know. It should be illegal to be so adorable. But please don't call me that," His face took on a sadder expression, "It reminds me of my little sister."

"Mmm, thank you," She said, before stretching forward and pressing her lips against his briefly. "Ok, I won't."

He pulled her head back down into a deeper kiss. After several minutes of kissing, Kirito glanced at the clock in his HUD. "Sinon," He said, pulling away from the pouting girl, "If we're going to make it to the guild meeting, we need to start getting ready to leave now. Sorry."

"No… You're right, but we will finish this," she said firmly, rolling off of him, and opening her menu, "Now turn around."

"Really?" He asked, yet turning anyways, beginning to change as well.

"Yes."

* * *

After using the teleporter that came in their Zeppelin, and walking a short distance, they came to what appeared to be the tallest building in the metropolis. In front of the tower stood Zoë, dressed in new red armor with white accents. Beside her stood Arekkusu, in a similar red and black cloak. Zoë motioned for them to come over.

"Welcome to… The Spire of the Crimson Cross, also known as the new KoB headquarters." She beamed, "We have uniforms now too. See!" She exclaimed, holding up two black cloaks.

Sinon looked between the uniforms Zoë was holding, and the ones she and Alex were wearing. "Why are yours red?"

"Oh, I figured black was more you and Kirito's style. We aren't the army, we encourage individuality."

"Cool, a new coat!" Kirito exclaimed, taking his from Zoë and throwing Sinon her' 'armor' it seemed to offer little in the way of protection, save the fact that it had a strip of dragon skin covering from her collarbone to her neck, and a somewhat unnecessary amount of shoulder armor, and a sleeve on the the left arm that seemed to act as a bracer so her bowstring wouldn't cut her arm. It was all black except the straps, and there were many of them, attached in what seemed a random pattern all over it, outlined in white. Included was also a black hooded cloak with a bright white cross outline on the back. She poked the armor, and gawked at the stats, it was more than twice as good as her current set.

She looked over at Kirito who was already wearing his. It wasn't much different than the one he had on before, except this one had more straps, and the accents were a brighter crimson. Of course there was also a large crimson cross outline on the back.

"Okay," Zoë said,"We should get going, Asuna and Diabel are already waiting at the top, oh and Sinon, you can change inside."

* * *

The penthouse was a large circular room, with a large semi circle desk dominating half of the room. The walls were entirely made of glass, giving a beautiful 360 degree view of the surrounding city. Inside, slumped Asuna, dressed in white and red, and Diabel in white and black, instead of his usual blue armor. They had both gotten back from the LC raid yesterday afternoon, and neither Kirito or Sinon had gotten a chance to ask them how it went; all they knew was that all the party members had returned alive.

"So, how did it go?" Sinon started, "Did you get those depraved sons of bitches?"

Diabel sighed, his eyes glazed over and sightless. After a pause he finally said, "They were expecting us… Someone must've told them we were coming," he straightened up a little and shifted his gaze to Zoë, his gaze moving from Kirito as if he had not existed, his jaw set grimly. "Commander, I believe we have a traitor in our ranks."

Zoë nodded, her face grave, "I've suspected as such for a while, but I never had proof." she stopped and looked at each of them, "You are the only people i can trust. We have to find this traitor, but we mustn't spook them, so we can find out who they're working for."

"Sounds like a good idea," said Kirito, "Do we have any leads?"

"Yes," Zoë swiped her menu over to Kirito, Sinon looking over his shoulder. The display showed the guild roster, on it were marked several names, including [Kurdeel] the LC member Kirito had killed previously. Behind him he heard Sinon breathed sharply, probably at the guildmate/disguised murderer's name. The man who had just recently almost killed her. The others on the list were [Heinrich], [Sterben], and [Temperance]. "Alex and I will investigate Temperance, you four may divide as you choose. There's no rush to complete this investigation, so as to not alert the real spy, take your time investigating, and be careful, you are dismissed."

* * *

They walked in silence, neither Asuna nor Diabel wishing to break it. The group had decided on which player each pair was to trail. Since they were the ones who recruited all the members, they remembered this one well: he was strong, almost as strong as them, he was smart, and cunning, and on paper he could be one of the top ten players in the game, but he had an aura that made you fear him, it felt like he was always staring at you when he was near. He never talked. His actions spoke for him. Yet there was also no evidence to suggest that he was the slightest bit evil, only his unnerving presence. His name: Death.

* * *

_A/N: Ok, first off, i hope you liked the chapter. (Must maintain positive attitude)_

_Secondly, I'd like to thank my beta testers: ~Mauriot for essentially co-writing this chapter, and ~Salaeren and ~Furrballnerd for their mass amounts of beta input._

_Remember to check out the [Sinoto] community, and show your love for this adorable pairing by reading the fanfics there (Except this one, it deserves no love), this is also a good place to realise I'm a terrible writer. (Nope, can't do it)_

_Please R&amp;R: It helps, really. (Great job, so many reviews, keep it up)_

_Anyways, see you next time. Peace Off ^_^_

_Next time: **"The Cold"**__**  
**_


	13. The Cold

_**A/N: ~Posiden666:**_ _So I know this is probably late. And I'm sorry in advance. It's currently the seventeenth of November. I'll be co-writing a webcomic soon, so updates will be slower. I promise I will not abandon this FanFic. Have no fear._

_Reviews:_

_**Redfoo. skyblue.165:**_ _Yes, this fanfiction is all about character development, plot twists, and adorable little things. My favorite is still chapter nine._

_**~Patient 0 Zero:**_ _Mmmhhmmm. The plot begins to arch… IKR! ZEPPELINS! No further responses._

_**Ethan. lukkar:**_ _Same review… wow._

_(__**guest**__)SexySinon: I know, I'm sorry. It totally is. Sinoto forever!_

_**Alternet RedSkys:**_ _I try to stay positive, theres too many tragedies in this world. You don't know I'm a good person. I don't know._

_(__**guest**__)Somecrazygirl: I'm sorry for the wait, on the bright side, you didn't have to wait a month for this one._

_**Stormagedon69:**_ _Here have some more._

_**Siris the Guardian of Aura:**_ _Thanks. SINOTO FOREVER!_

_**Siris the Guardian of Aura:**_ _Do you? Am I? Well… I do like roller coasters, and I do like plot twists, and winter is coming. Spoiler alert: Dragons_

_**~Sentiel07:**_ _You're wrong, it was a bad start. No._

_**AlexCaffri:**_ _Oh… it is isn't it. Her name as well? *Fixed* Good to hear it, thanks._

_**Carlos. hernandez. 56679015**__**: **__Thanks, I will_

_**UltiBG:**_ _Thanks. Yeah, I'm un-creative. Sorry, I always seem to cap out around 3k-3.5k._

_Thanks for reviewing you guys, keep being cool cats._

_To all who read the top-note, I'll see you at the bottom_

* * *

**The Archery Skill**

Chapter 13: "**The Cold"**

* * *

Kirito sat, waiting. The tavern was empty, save a few NPC's that always inhabited places like this. A certain Rat had promised to meet him almost an hour ago. An entire hour that he could've been grinding mobs. He sighed and began to get up, only to stop as he heard a familiar voice call, "Kii-Bou!" Kirito quickly looked to the direction of the voice, only to be tackled by a hooded figure. "Awwe Kii-bou, you've gotta be faster than that."

"I wasn't planning on being attacked."

"You should always expect the unexpected, you never know when someone might try to get you."

"We're in a safe zone, I'm allowed to relax in those aren't I?" He replied, pushing the girl away from him, and getting up.

"Well…" she puffed her cheeks out, "You never know," she said, pulling her hood down as far as it reached.

"Now, business," Kirito started, trying to push the conversation to a more serious direction, "I need all the info you have on one-handed sword subskills, extra skills, and unique skills."

"Hmm, interesting request, Kii-bou, may I ask why."

"No you may not."

"Please," she begged.

"It's a secret."

"Awwe, now you really got me interested, I can keep a secret."

"Yeah," he scoffed, "And I'm actually the leader of laughing coffin."

"Really?" She asked, taking out a book and quill.

"Sarcasm," he sighed.

"Good."

"Now back to business."

"Right, the only known one-handed sword related skills are: [One-Handed Sword], [Rapier], [Curved One-Handed Sword]. other than that there's just the extra [Katana] skill, and the only known unique one-handed sword skill: [Divine Sword]."

"Are you sure thats all?"

"You doubt me? That's all the known skills."

"Can you tell me all the known unique skills?"

"Sure… Zoë's got [Divine Sword], Alex's got [Rift Blade], Sinonon's got [Archery]. Come to think of it, your guild has all the unique skill users… how odd," she remarked, glaring at him as if trying to read all his darkest secrets.

"Th-Thanks Argo…" he stammered.

"Anytime Kii-Bou." her expression changing to a much lighter one, "Do you need anything else… maybe something worth charging you for?"

"It's probably not worth charging for, but do you know any good blacksmiths?"

* * *

Before him was a rather quaint little building with a chimney taking up almost half it's space, and a sign out front that read 'Lizbeth's Smith Shop.' He was in the small village of Alagade on the 55'th floor, only one floor below the current front line. The rest of this floor was covered in snowy crystal mountains, and deadly winter creatures.

He pushed the door open, the abundant warmth inside was a refreshing change from the frigid air surrounding the building. The walls were covered with weapons that looked to have equivalent to much of the equipment on the front lines. The player behind the counter was a fairly average sized girl with short brown hair.

"Hello, I'm Lizbeth, of Lizbeth's Smith Shop, what are you looking for today," she asked turning around. "Hang on, I know you, you're The Black Swordsman, right?"

"Is that what they're calling me now?" He asked, "Please, it's just Kirito."

"Well, it's great to have you, what kind of equipment are you looking for, I've got lots of swords."

He walked over to the girl and unstrapped Elucidator from his back, laying it on the counter, "I think a custom order actually, I'd like a one-handed long sword, one that's of equal or better quality than this," he said, gesturing to his sword.

The blacksmith poked at his sword, staring in shock at the window before her, "This is Elucidator, one of the best monster-drop weapons available. Why do you need a similar sword, are you intending on breaking it?"

"Well it's kinda a secret…"

"Well as the one forging the sword, I kinda need to know," she retorted.

"Okay," he sighed, "But you can't tell ANYBODY!"

"I won't," she replied, honestly, "Customer-Vendor confidentiality and all."

"I have a unique skill."

"Considering half the elite of KoB do, it's not that surprising."

"It allows me to equip an additional sword… And actually use sword skills for both."

"Cool, but why the secrecy?"

"I don't like attention," he stated, lowering his head.

"If you don't like attention why do you dress like an anti-hero, and lead the best players in the game."

"Dunno."

"You're dumb," she observed.

"So that's it, the fourth unique skill in the game, and you just say cool?" he asked, a bit hurt.

"What, did you want me to gasp with surprise, and treat you like a deity?"

"Well… no, I just thought you'd have some kind of reaction. Most people I know would do just about anything to have a unique skill."

"I don't need to use unique sword skills to make swords for unique skill users, now do I?"

"So what can you make?" he asked, dragging the conversation from its tangent.

"Well," she said, pulling a elegant, light looking sword from the wall, "How about this, it's my masterpiece."

"Hmm," he said, taking the sword and swishing it through the air, "It's really light."

"Well yeah, it's made from a speed type metal."

"Light is bad, it feels weak. Also, if I were to dual wield these swords, I'd be quite off balance."

"Well…" she said, thinking, "There's a quest nearby that's supposed to have a god tier ingot as the quest reward, if I had that, I could probably make you the perfect sword."

"Alright I'll go do that, and bring you the ingot."

There's just one thing," she said, putting on a fur coat.

"Hmm. Whats that."

"No one's completed the quest yet, and it's supposed you need a master smith in your party."

"Is this confirmed?"

"No. But I'm coming, and you can't stop me."

"What if I said please?" he questioned.

She looked into the distance for a short time before replying, "You could give it a shot."

"Please?" He asked, unsure of the result

"No."

"Wow," He sighed, "Fine."

She giggled and grabbed his arm, "Lets go!"

* * *

"K-Kirito, I'm cold!"

"You live on this floor, didn't you know it'd be freezing?"

"Well…"

"And you're wearing a coat."

"Yeah..." she started, before a large mass of fabric was tossed over her head. "But don't... you'll… cold..."

"If you didn't want to be warm, you shouldn't have said you were cold, plus: if you're disciplined like me, you don't feel it."

"That or your [Survival] is through the roof..." she muttered, following him further into the blizzard.

The boy held up his hand, motioning for her to stop.

"What is it?"

"The dragon sleeps..."

She followed his gaze to what, at first glance, appeared to be a mound of ice; although on further inspection she could make out a head, horns, and a slow rhythmic breathing motion, none of which were characteristics usually exhibited by mounds of ice. Kirito, meanwhile, had pulled a second sword from his inventory, this one a deep cobalt color.

"I want you to stay here, okay?"

"Why? I'll have you know that I am a…" her voice trailed off. His gaze was commanding, but behind that she sensed something more… fear maybe, concern, she couldn't tell. "Okay."

* * *

The beast was down to half of its total health. A boy in a black cloak was steadily chipping away at it's health, taking surprisingly little damage in return. Nearby a brown haired girl watched the fight, her face wrought with anxiety. From her hiding place, she saw him leap onto the dragon's head, stabbing both of his swords into it's skull. I roared in fury, and shook it's head violently in an attempt to remove the annoyance logged in it's cranium. Kirito removed the swords, backflipping off the beasts head, just moments before he would've been impaled upon a nearby crystal formation. It roared again, it's health having dropped into the red-zone. The dragon spread it's wings, soaring into the air and creating a gale strong enough to knock the swordsman off balance.

The onlooker dashed from her cover, drawing the monster's attention, "He changes his attack pattern to include a wing attack! Look out!" She yelled, hoping to help the boy.

"NO! Don't come-"

The dragon let loose a blizzard's worth of icy wind directed squarely at the unprepared blacksmith. Unable to keep her footing she flew backwards, expecting to land against the soft snow, instead: nothing.

She looked up, clawing helplessly at the air. The light at the top growing: fainter, the opening: smaller. She closed her eyes, she would finally be free of this hellish world. She heard her name. So there was an afterlife after all, she chuckled at the thought, her life had all been trivial. Her name again, this time more earnestly. She tried to remember the sensation of dying: she could not. She felt the warm embrace of death, heard the screeching sound that she assumed was her brain being bombarded with microwaves. She felt the soft snowy… her eyes shot open, she was at the bottom of the pit, the warm smile of 'The Black Swordsman' seeming to melt the feeling of doom from it's vicious hold on her. His swords stuck into the glacial wall of the pit, and two long deep cuts ran up the wall about twenty feet. The boy's head eclipsed the opening of the pit, giving him an angelic corona that only made him more beautiful. She reached up to him and pulled her savior into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

* * *

"Kirito," Liz said flatly.

"Uh-huh?" The boy choked out, his mouth full of soup.

"I sincerely doubt I've ever eaten worse food than this," she said, setting the steaming bowl on the snow, causing it to sink beneath the ground.

"I wouldn't doubt it," he replied, "My cooking skill is so low I can barely make toast."

"WHAT!" she shrieked, "How did you even make this soup?"

"Luck," he shrugged, "But if you're not going to eat that…" he gestured to the bowl.

"Yes, you can have it."

"Sweet!" He exclaimed, inhaling the rest of his own, and digging the soup out from the snow. He slurped the whole bowl of 'soup' down in mere seconds. Setting the bowl down, he noticed a glimmer in the hole the hot bowl had made. "Hey, Liz-san, come check this out," he said, indicating the hole. digging up more snow around the glimmer, he revealed three crystal-like objects, two of them jagged an icy blue, and the other a perfect and menacingly sharp red diamond shape.

"What's that," the brunette asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Well," he said picking up one one of the blue ones for her to poke, "I'd assume it's what we came here for.

"Crystalline Ingot!" Exclaimed the girl, "But what's the crimson one."

Kirito poked the sharp object, and a window appeared [Coagulated Angel-Blood Ingot, for you: Kirito] was the name.

"It's an Angel Blood Ingot or something," he said, quickly closing the window. Why did it have his name in the item name, maybe it was just weird, and named itself after the person to first pick up the item, he thought, it really wasn't that far-fetched. He quickly removed his name from the object. Weird.

"Liz-san, take this," he said, throwing her the ingot, "I want my sword made from that."

"How about I make you one of each material, and take this ingot as payment?"

"All right." He said, though not needing another sword, "Now did you bring a sleeping bag?"

* * *

"Hey, Kirito?" The girl laying beside him asked.

"Yeah, Liz." He said, turning towards her, her face illuminated in the soft warm flickering glow of the lantern that stood between them

"Why did you save me?"

"I don't know," he sighed, and her heart dropped to her stomach, "I guess, I just couldn't live with myself, knowing I had a real opportunity to save someone, and chose to not take it. God only knows my hands are already stained with enough blood."

"What do you mean," the girl inquired, noticing the distant and sorrowful look on the boy's face.

"I," he took a deep breath, his gaze becoming even more distant, "I've killed..." he sighed.

"Kir-"

"And I've watched, as people I could have saved; innocent people, people who deserved to live more than I; had their lives ended before my very eyes..." he cried, his fists balled, and his eyes full of remorse.

"It-"

"And so I'm going to save everybody. No matter how hopeless the odds, if I have the opportunity, I would rather die in anyone's sted than stand idly by, and do nothing. That is why I saved you Lizbeth-san"

A long pause followed, the brunette looked over to see if Kirito had fallen asleep. He had not. "Hey, Kirito?" She asked tentatively.

"Huh?" Grunted sleepily.

"Hold my hand?" She asked, turning her head from him, but extending her hand.

Kirito started to move his hand, but a picture of Sinon flashed in his mind. He was sure she wouldn't mind. He reached out of his sleeping bag and took her hand in his, "Good night Liz-san"

"Good night."

* * *

We trudged through the snowy wasteland that was the 55th floor. Sinon had asked me to accompany her here to 'Save Kirito,' earlier this morning. She had come to the guild HQ at 4:00 A.M. in a panic, asking anyone around if they knew where Kirito had gone. I had volunteered to help search for him, and suggested we talk to that information broker he goes too all the time. The 'Rat' had informed us that she had told him about a blacksmith on the 55th floor, and he had left in quite a rush. After finding the shop empty for 'Questing Purposes', Sinon had insisted that we search the entire floor for him, since this floor was a hot spot for blacksmiths recently in search of some new material.

Sinon had stopped, she was peering over the edge of a large pit, in what appeared to be shock. I rushed over to the edge of the pit to see what she was gawking at. The sight was terrible. Below lay Kirito wrapped in a brown sleeping bag. Curled up against him, lay a girl, in Kirito's favorite, smoke-grey one, their hands entwined.

Sinon pulled her bow from her back and knocked an arrow, aiming into the pit. "Sinon! Stop!" I yelled, attempting to disarm her. After a brief struggle, she stopped fighting and fell to the ground, her face becoming 'damp' with tears. She pulled a blue crystal from her belt and muttered something inaudible, shattering into billions of pieces.

I sighed, pulling a rope from my inventory and securing it around a nearby crystal formation. Better get the whole story, I thought.

* * *

Kirito had reached the mouth of the pit. Looking around, he noticed Alex, slumped against a nearby crystal cluster. "Thanks for saving us, it was a huge help," he said, giving Liz a hand.

"Kirito…" Alex sighed.

"Yeah?"

"Sinon was the one who found you two here," said the rogue, motioning to the pit, "Doing 'that'" Alex continued motioning between the two players before him/her, "And then she started crying and teleported away," they said. For the first time, Alex lifted their head, eyes full of fire, "Now do you want to explain to me what 'that' was and why you felt you needed to do it when you have a GIRLFRIEND ALREADY! One, who I might add, is perfect with you! And also, is now in tears because you were literally sleeping with another girl!"

"Well..." Kirito, started, scratching the back of his head, "I just woke up and found her all cuddled up against me, we just held hands last night, and I thought it was just friendly..."

The brunette's face had fallen, he had a girlfriend. Of course he did, he was 'The Black Swordsman,' possibly the most famous boy in all of Aincrad, she thought. But he had saved her life, so she owed him, everything. She wanted him… but she also wanted him to be happy. "K-kirito?" she asked.

"Yeah," he responded lifelessly.

"Do you love her?"

The boy looked at her shocked, but then his face fell into a distant smile. A warm and beautiful smile, "Yeah…" he said, as if not quite sure of himself. The girl's heart pounded painfully in her chest. He looked up, staring straight at nothing, and replied resolutely,"Yes I do."

Her heart stopped, and a pained smile crept onto her face, a single tear, rolling down her face. She stood up, facing away from them. "Then go tell her that, and be happy together," she said before running away from them, with a heavy heart, yet a clear conscience.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _I hate to end it there, but it's where the end is. It'll make sense next chapter._

_Please feel free to __**criticize**_ _me and write a __**review**__. Actually, it's encouraged! Hey, and if you really like this fic why not visit your __**favorite**_ _psychiatrist, because you need to; this is a bad fanfic, please stop lying to yourself._

_Don't worry everyone, the butterfly point (Chaos Theory) will be revealed soon (6 Chapters)_

_I'd like to thank my beta tester __**~Furrballnerd**_ _for all the beta input. And __**~Mauriot**_ _for her proofing. Thanks, y'all are awesome._

_Anyways, __**R&amp;R**__&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R&amp;R, and all that jazz…_

_Peace off ^_^_

_Next up:_ "_**The Girl of Midnight Stars"**_


	14. The Girl of Evening Stars

_**~Posiden666: **__Hey, so I'm hoping temporal progression stopped… No? Darn. Then this is probably late. _

_So I don't like OC's, I've stated this before, that being said, I'm adding a new OC._

_Happy new year! So I was gonna resolve to not post late… but I think we all know how long that'll last. So instead, I'm just going to try to post faster. Also, if you are REALLY annoyed at my posting 'schedule' I'm starting a twitter feed Posiden666_

_Reviews:_

_(__**guest**__)Guest: I'm not using the phrase with it's literal definition, per se. I translate more like 'Certainly' or 'Truthfully' _

_**Ethan. lukkar:**_ _Authors must hate you. Just write what you think of the chapter, and that's what a review should be. There's nothing worse than empty praise._

_**Stormagedon69:**_ _Kirito was down a really deep hole, I think it she just decided it wasn't worth the climb._

_**~Symbiote2254: **_ _Cool, thanks. It's plotty._

_**Patient 0 Zero:**_ _B-but… Zeppelins… I needed suspense(ish) to make this chapter feel right. Here it is: the update._

_**Anonymos112: **_ _It is super cute. Usually this pairing is all angsty, so I decided to write a much cuter story, and that is this._

_**AfterlifeXD:**_ _Cool, have some._

_**~Antex-The Legendary Zoroark:**_ _Okay, wow, lots of 'em. (1): Yeah, it's definitely not my best.(Was that an Offspring reference?). (3): Idk, maybe, i didn't mean for it to come off that way. (4): I HAVE NO MALE OC's! If you mean Alex, yes THEY will be. (6): The magic of plot twists and Chaos Butterflies. (7): Thank you, cute is my goal in life. As well you should. (9): I think Ch 9 is my favorite. (11): I don't know, I'm trying to be better about that, thank you. (13): Read on and find out._

_(__**guest**__)SexySinon: It wasn't thaaat long a wait._

_**Serafis:**_ _I don't like rushing things… Any things. Sorry about that, and thank you!_

_**Alternet RedSkys: **__That's deep man. I think I'll take that as a compliment. _

_**~Thepkrmgc: **__That's because that's when you show readers the butterfly ripples._

_(__**guest**__)Sinoto Forever: Thank you, I go for cute. Cute should be the first thing to come to mind when you think of this fic._

_**~KirigayaKazutoisbadass: **__Thanks. I'm tryin to get better about that Don't worry, I won't abandon this fic._

_**AlexCaffri: **__Ikr, Argo's my second favorite character. Awwe, how'd you figure it out._

_Okay, so the next review has some kinda __**useful**_ _**info**_ _in it, so you should at least read the __**bold**_ _stuff._

_(__**guest**__)Shirito: First off, thank you for your huge review, you're the best kind of reader (And you criticized too, yay!) Yes, the first two are terrible. I've tried to fix it, but short of doing a blind re-write, I haven't been able to find much in particular to fix (I'm working on re-writing it.) I'm glad to hear they get better. Well, for Sinon, I partly attribute that to the fact that for the first time in forever she has friends. Friends tend to make people happier. As for Asuna, she's intentionally OOC. And Kirito… Well, I don't know. Nope,_ _**Liz sends Kirito the swords after she recovered a little, and Kirito immediately pursues Sinon.**_ _Hmm, interesting idea, I think I'll poll it: __**Review Poll: who do you think I should pair Alex with**__, because I have no ideas. Actually, I'm not the only one In control of this fic, I've made a number of rather large plot decisions based on reader's criticism and suggestions. ^_^_

_**BigBossFTW: **__No. And it never will be 'till it's marked as complete._

_Yeah, let's just get to the __**cute**_ _parts… and the __**plot**_ _parts… and maybe the __**combat**_ _parts (haven't done that in a while.)_

* * *

**The Archery Skill**

Chapter 14: "**The Girl of Evening Stars"**

* * *

**Floor 56** was a death trap. Almost the entire floor was in constant night. It was said that falling asleep there would cause nightmare events that were supposed to be fatal; random [Meteor Strike] events happened quite often, dealing lethal damage without warning. There were no buildings, no NPC's, and ever since the floor had been cleared, almost no players. Currently, the population was one. In the center was the teleport gate, surrounded by large, imposing stone slabs. Lurking among these was a figure, dressed all in black. The lurker seemed to be waiting for something. The gate lit up, someone was approaching.

Sinon stepped through the gate; it was dark even though it was the middle of the day. The sky was filled with stars, millions of beautiful stars. From behind one of the stones surrounding the gate, she heard a voice say, "I've been waiting for you, Sinon."

"What do _you_ want?" The girl hissed.

"We need to talk," said the voice.

"I don't think we need to talk," she said, "I know what I saw."

"Sinon," the voice started, its source stepping out of the shadows, "What you saw was a misunderstanding."

"Oh?" Sinon scoffed.

The voice's owner stepped out of the shadows and started walking towards the bluenette.

"Get away from me," she cried, "I-I…" her voice trailed off, a tear running down her cheek.

"What?" he asked.

"I hate you!" she screamed, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow.

"Sinon…" he whispered, before being impaled by the arrow, "Please…" Another, his health dropped to yellow. He continued to walk towards her. She fired a third arrow. Kirito made no attempt to dodge. It struck him in the stomach causing him to wince slightly; but he continued. "Stop!" she yelled, her hands fumbling for a fourth arrow.

"Or what?" He asked, cocking his head.

"I'll fire!"

"Go ahead," he encouraged, "This one's likely to kill me since I'm not wearing defensive gear." He started closing the distance between them again.

She released the arrow. It sailed over his right shoulder, leaving a faint red line on Kirito's cheek. He didn't even flinch.

"Sinon," the boy in black said, grasping the girl's shoulders. She struggled briefly, but surrendered at his embrace, "I love you…" He whispered, "And I would never intentionally do anything to cause you distress."

Her heart pounded, and her ears were ringing with the words he had had just spoken. Those three little words that warmed her very soul. She looked up at Kirito, her eyes red with tears, "Dummy," Sinon sighed, sinking into the boy's arms, "But if you ever sleep with another girl again. You will pay dearly."

* * *

"I'm so bored!" Sinon exclaimed.

"Maybe you shouldn't have shot me then," Kirito remarked.

"Shh."

"Well now we're stuck on this deadly and empty floor until your status goes back to green."

"That doesn't matter, this is all your-" she started to before noticing a bright streak appear in the sky. A deep rumble followed as the floor shook with the impact of a meteor. "C'mon!" the girl, commanded, "I bet whatever just landed is some kind of event or mini-dungeon."

"Whatever," the boy grumbled, following her lead.

They jogged for at least ten minutes, their agility stats leaving them not the slightest bit winded when they arrived at their destination.

Before them, lay a flaming crater roughly 40 meters in diameter.

Her eyes now adjusted to the flame's brightness, could just make out an object in the center of the impact site. "Kirito!" She yelled excitedly.

"Wha-"

"Let's go down there," she begged, pointing to the shape at the bottom, standing in the sea of fire that it had created through its impact.

He gawked at the girl for a moment before inspecting the object further. It appeared to be a meteor, yet it also had a strange translucency and luster to it. "I don't know, that's a lot of fire," he remarked.

"*Pfft* A little fire never hurt anyone." She slid down into the crater and started running towards the center; Kirito let out a sigh and slid after her.

As they approached, the object became more distinct. It was a large round boulder that appeared to be made of a vaguely blue, translucent crystal. Through the material, Kirito could just barely perceive two humanoid shapes.

The crystal began to fracture, the material rapidly filling with sharp refracting lines. Finally, it exploded into a shower of luminous polygons which diffused the surrounding orange glow of the fire beautifully. Lying where the monolith was once lodged were two young girls, one in a ghostly white dress with dark hair. She appeared to be unconscious and her skin had numerous red damage marks that appeared and faded at random. Her face was contorted and it was obvious that she was in pain. The other, looking slightly older and having snow-white hair, wore midnight black dress of the same fashion. She stirred, her eyes batting open. She bolted upright, her eyes full of panic and concern. She looked around desperately, noticing the couple, but her eyes came to rest on the girl beside her.

"Nee-chan!" She yelled, embracing her unconscious figure. She fixed her gaze on the adventurers and pleaded, "Please, you must help my sister, she's being corrupted…" A tear rolled down her cheek, hitting the ground and sparkling with a trail of polygons as it vanished from the air, "Here they come."

As if on cue, a number of yellow cursors appeared at the rim of the crater, completely surrounding them. A roar came from the monsters: they charged. Kirito slid the sword off his back and sighed; today was not supposed to go like this. Sinon readied her bow and nocked an arrow.

As the horde approached they began to be able to make out the shapes of their assailants: they were vaguely humanoid, but their bodies seemed to shift around and their skin was pitch black with no texturing. Radiating from these dark creatures, were polygons, similar to the ones known and hated by every SAO player, only these were an even more menacing color: a bloody crimson, the same ones that spurted from slash marks and stab wounds. The seemed like rips in the very code of Aincrad.

One was charging directly at Kirito, not five meters away. He prepared his sword and waited, spinning when it was within reach. His sword sliced cleanly through the monster, but it's sword continued after it's wielder's demise, striking him on the cheek. His health dropped only slightly. Ten more took the felled enemy's place. Behind him, he could hear Sinon firing arrows constantly, and shattering sounds could be heard after each one. Kirito took a deep breath, then became a whirlwind of death, cutting down any shade brave enough to enter his range. The number of enemies dwindled to almost none but then suddenly they all stopped charging, making a formation on either side of the couple, and standing motionless.

Sinon's attention returned to the girl and her sister, she knelt down beside the girl in black and began to rub her back. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Don't worry about me; I'm fine…" the girl looked again to the unconscious figure, "It's her you should worry about," she sighed her gaze drifting to the rim of the crater. "But we have three problems now."

"What-" Sinon asked before a great rumbling cut her off.

The rumbling continued 'till two titanic heads could be seen coming up over opposite sides of the horizon. Their names read [The Greed of Kings] and [The Envy of Mortals]; the definite article indicating that they were floor bosses, which was odd given that they weren't in a Labyrinth, and that this floor's boss had already been defeated.

As the two giants came further into view, their huge proportions became more evident. They jumped into the crater, the ground below their feet fracturing and crumbling. The simultaneous impact left Sinon and Kirito's ears ringing.

They were now completely surrounded, the bosses opposite each other and the formations of voidlings covering the other directions. The giants now stood at full height and could be referenced against the smaller enemies. They were each about seven meters tall. One was dressed as a king: his sickening grin had holes and golden caps. His jeweled crown lay askew atop his head, but missing several precious stones that obviously belonged there. He wore robes that appeared to be fashioned out of fine silk, but they were faded and tattered with use, and his pockets were stuffed with valuables like golden coins and gems. He held a gold and ruby scepter which was also missing jewels.

The other was dressed in rags and had a bladed whip in hand. His hair was long and dirty, and his skin was covered in scars. The giant's tongue lolled out of his mouth, it was devilish and forked. Their eyes were demonic, and pitch black.

They each raised their respective weapons, letting out guttural roars, and charged.

* * *

Zoë sat in her office. The sun had nearly set, giving the penthouse a magnificent brass glow from the city and airships all around. Next to her stood Alex, who was pulling on her sleeve and whining about going home. The girl heard a ping, and looked to her HUD, opening the message she had received. Suddenly, she stood up, and Alex exclaimed, "Finally!"

"Alex," said Zoë, "Meet me outside the spire in ten minutes."

"But… What are you going to do? Can I help"

"No!" She scolded, making her sibling look hurt.

"Fine," Alex huffed, turning and storming out of the office. She looks forlornly after them, she almost makes a move to follow, but then remembers the important message she received. She sits back down in her chair, clasps her hands on the desk, and stares into the darkest of the now lengthening shadows in the room.

A voice resonates from nowhere, "Finally, alone."

She continues to stare into the shadow, "Most people start with 'hello,' Hinrich."

"I'm not most people, Ms. Heathcliff."

She sighs, "my name's not heathcliff, that's just-"

"The name I gave you, I know," says the mysterious voice.

"What do you want?" She re directs.

"Oh," he sighs, "Just to talk."

"About what?" Zoë inquires.

A vague outline of a man steps from the shadows, "Kirito."

* * *

_**A/N: **__Hey there, I hope this chapter_ _was enough to whet your appetite for the plot-slaught (An onslaught or large amount of plot thrown into a story within a small amount of time and/or words) that's about to take place. I know I'm turning into one of those really out there, over the top plotlines, with big swinging dramatic unexpected arcs; when what I promised you was just a big pile of cute and an SAO re-write, but please, try to bear with me… It'll continue to be cute: I swear._

_**R&amp;R **__please, you guys don't know how much this helps, and also, why not try to guess what's going on. If you're the first to guess the correct primary antagonist for this arc, I'll give you a shoutout in the next chapter, and even let you name the next OC when I introduce one_

_And while you do that, why not __**criticize **__me in your_ _**review**__, I mean, there's so many things you could tell me I don't do right it's almost silly._

_Also, a __**poll**__: Who do you want __**Alex**_ _paired __**with**__, please leave __**suggestions**_ _in your __**comments**__._

_Hey, and if you really like this fic, and haven't visited your_ _**favorite**_ _psychiatrist yet: DO SO IMMEDIATELY!_

_Also, If you're wondering what happened to the laughing coffin sub-arc, It's still going to happen, I'm just figuring out how to put it in._

_I'd like to give a shout out to the beta testers who helped get this chapter mostly how I wanted It: __**~Furballnerd,**_ _and_ _**~Loading Error 404.**_ _Thanks, y'all are lifesavers (Not the candy)._


	15. The End?

_**~Posiden666:**_ _Hello, it's been awhile… A year you say? (Checks watch.) heh… I guess it has. I've been working on my other fic Heart of Lead, which you'll probably like if you enjoyed this one so far. _

_There will be combat in this chapter; I apologize in advance._

_From now on I'll be trying to significantly cut down on the number of reviews I respond to in the A/N. From now on I'll be P.M. replying._

_Anyways: reviews!_

_Reviews:_

_**Alternet RedSkys:**_ _Now that I'm working on two fics, I'm willing to blow this plot up. I've decided not to pair Alex. They're too cool for that. Good decision._

_**~Patient 0 Zero:**_ _Why thank you. I took your last review into account when I was deciding how to end it. Close. So very close._

_**(~)Apathetic Plot Bunneh:**_ _Thanks, that means quite a bit. At the beginning of this fic I was an absolutely atrocious writer. Yeah… the transitions to Alex are a bit difficult, given that they're the only character written in first person. Sorry._

_**JhinAza:**_ _Thanks, I've gotten a lot better. Well, I think that since I've butterfly affected so much, that their characters are totally plausible. For instance, Shino got bullied at school for three fewer years; Kazuto isn't going through the game Lone-Wolf._

_To all the people offering criticism: I thank you and I've tried to take your reviews into account._

_To all the people asking for updates: here it is._

* * *

**The Archery Skill**

Chapter 15: **The End?**

* * *

As the giants drew closer, Sinon's mind raced, her body moving instinctively into a battle stance. "Kirito!" she yelled, "I'll focus Greed. You clear the creeps."

"Roger."

Sinon took a deep breath and ran to the right of the hulking boss, letting loose an arrow to draw its aggro. Greed let out an animalistic roar and turned his eyes to her; they gleamed with desire.

"Ugg," she growled under her breath. "Why did Kayaba have to make the bosses creepers too?" She nocked another arrow and rolled to the right, barely missing the devastating impact of the boss's scepter. She closed her eyes for a split second, hearing Kirito smashing mirrors into thousands of singing shards behind her, focused on the sound, and let the arrow fly. It soared towards the giant's bloodshot left eye, and just before impact, it exploded into thousands of tiny polygons that hurled themselves into the bloodshot orb. The boss screamed, and [Depth Perception [X] [1:00]] appeared over its head. Its health bar had barely moved, and it staggered back into place quickly, blood streaming down its gnarled face.

Sinon smiled, slinging her bow onto her back, and stopped kiting the boss, drawing her dagger and dashing towards it. Greed raised his scepter and brought it down with devastating force, missing her by an inch as she swerved, the shaking ground almost enough to make her trip.

Sinon readied her dagger for an attack as she ran, whipping three throwing picks from her thigh strap. The boss grinned and swept its leg at her as it raised the scepter to present a threat of counterattack. Sinon quickly calculated the situation and bit her lip. "[Sonic Leap]," she cried, rocketing out of the way of its leg and sending her straight for his neck.

Greed swung his free hand at the girl, appearing to have checkmated his stunned assailant. Sinon smirked; daggers had the lowest cooldowns for sword-skills in the game. It was said that if one's reactions were fast enough, a dagger user could activate a skill while using a different one. Sinon spun in mid air, throwing her picks at the giant's left shoulder, which caused the foe's attack to slow, and activated [Linear]. The girl changed directions in mid-air and shot into the chest of the hulking enemy to inflict only slight damage, but the maneuver had saved her from the lethal attack.

The penalty for using two skills at once kicked in and Sinon felt her body lock up on cooldown. The dagger slipped out of the boss's chest and she fell back to the ground with a dull thud. "Damn it," she cursed weakly, having not expected to fall. The king licked his lips and brought his scepter down heavily onto the earth where she lay, cratering the ground.

* * *

Kirito tore through the throngs of enemies with ease. He was a whirlwind of death, slashing, blocking, and dodging, but mostly slashing. The enemies were so weak. Most fell with only a single swing. They had no coordination, but despite all his efforts their numbers never seemed to decrease.

Kirito leapt back, far above the heads of his enemies, astonished; he had killed at least a hundred and yet they took up the same amount of space. As he landed, he caught five voidlings with their backs turned. He yelled [Horizontal], felling all of them in a single strike.

He felt pain, so he spun around to catch another with the edge of his blade, looking down to survey the damage. Two swords through his chest, and he paused, his head whirling. Suddenly, it was not two, but twenty. Paralyzed, Kirito's face was a mask of terror as he saw the last sliver of his health bar disappear.

* * *

"Hinrich!"

"Yes?" asked the man on the throne in the middle of the room. He was shrouded in darkness, save his circular glasses which gleamed gold with the reflection of the brass city surrounding them.

"They're dead."

A deafening pause. A faraway prick of red light on the city's skyline blinked lazily, once, twice.

"Well…" sighed the man, pushing himself from the throne and flipping open a gleaming brass pocket watch, "that simply won't do."

* * *

Kirito winced as the neon purple **[You are dead]** message appeared, dominating his darkened vision. He fell to his knees, wincing, and unconsciously let a tear fall from his eye. He wasn't ready to die. He couldn't do that to her.

A bright light engulfed the boy and the faint outline of the world disappeared. Kirito blinked, through his blurry vision he saw that he was surrounded by brilliant shades of pink and orange. It was as if he was part of the most beautiful sunset imaginable. His eyes adjusted to the blinding light. He was floating in the sky; beautiful clouds swirled around him so close he could touch them.

In the distance was a castle, a floating metal fortress, sides shining with the pastel light of the setting sun. It amazed Kirito that something so beautiful could claim so many innocent lives. Aincrad. That steel prison that had stolen the futures of so many of his comrades. That cold iron arena which had made him sacrifice his humanity just to survive. A tragedy that, to him, surpassed even that of the death of his parents. But it was more than any one of those things; it was also the familiar brass palace that held his most cherished memories.

And his most cherished person…

* * *

"What do you mean that 'won't do?'" Zoë yelled, the sound startling in the perfect silence, her hair falling in her face, "Two of my friends just died! What's your plan? What were those things that were attacking them? Who were those girls?"

"Heathcliff, dearest, please do try to calm down; it's unbecoming of you," the man with the pocket watch said. "What you have witnessed today is merely the tip of the iceberg; this game is rotten to its core."

"Hinrich, why must you always be so cryptic? You clearly know things no one else does," she took a step forward and stared him down, "I'm afraid I'll no longer be able to assist you if you continue to keep me in the dark, sir." It was said as a threat, her eyes in shadow, her posture tense.

"Fine, I suppose I've had my fun," Hinrich conceded. He stood, his presence monolithic.

"My true name is Akihiko Kayaba, and the world as you know it is a lie."

* * *

[5:00 until data dump complete], mocked a notification.

He had five minutes left to live. Five minutes that would serve no purpose but to taunt him for his utter uselessness. No purpose but to force him to remember his last vision of her over and over again. A vision of her leaping directly into an attack from The Greed of Kings. He had to remember how he had failed her. He was sobbing now, hunched over kneeling on some invisible platform in the sky, miles away from the metallic cathedral that had saved him from himself just over a year ago, doomed to spend his last moments alone and pathetic.

"No," he whispered. Kirito sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm not gonna die," he said, standing up.

[3:00 until data dump complete] the notification chimed in.

The boy took a breath, a new intensity in burning in his eyes, and stared at the floating mass of metal that he had grown so fond of. He had never felt so loved or needed before; he had never truly felt 'home' until being trapped in Aincrad. For the first time since he could remember, he had true friends. Agil, Diavel, Asuna, Zoë, Alex, Klein… No, they were more than friends; they were his family. Each of them would die for him, and he would do the same for them.

Looking to Aincrad again, he saw a figure looking out at the castle about seven meters away. It was a girl with medium length dark brown hair. She was wearing a pale blue sweater, a tan plaid skirt, and white socks. Her brown scarf fluttered lightly in the gentle breeze. She turned her head to the boy, her glasses sparkling in the light, and smiled.

[2:00 until data dump complete]

Kirito walked over beside the girl and silently gazed at the swirling clouds and colors.

"It's so beautiful isn't it?" The girl sighed.

"Yeah," Kirito said wistfully.

"I'm gonna miss it… I'm gonna miss you…" she whispered, almost to herself.

Kirito looked at the girl in mild confusion and realized she was crying. "Hey," Kirito started, "don't cry…"

"Why?" She asked. "We're dead, Kirito. How do you not cry?"

"I…" he stammered, "I need to be strong."

The girl looked up at him and shook her head, more tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "You don't have to be strong anymore. Not for me, not for anyone." She took his hand in hers and gave him a weak smile.

Kirito's heart raced; was this wrong? He blinked. "Sinon?"

[1:00 until data dump complete]

"Yes?" The girl replied without hesitation.

"Why do you look so different?"

"Huh?" The girl asked, wiping the virtual tears away with her sleeve.

"Yeah, you have brown hair and eyes instead of blue… Not that I don't like it…" he said. "I think it makes you look cuter actually."

"Thanks," Sinon said. "This is the other me. My name is Shino Asada; it's a pleasure to meet you…" She let go of his hand and offered a handshake.

"Kazuto Kirigaya," Kirito declared, completing the handshake.

Sinon giggled and hugged him.

[0:30 until data dump complete]

"Sinon, how much time do you have left?" Kirito asked urgently.

"Uhh, thirty seconds," she replied weakly.

"Same…" he said.

"Hey Kirito?" She hummed.

"Yes?"

"Could you call me Shino?"

"Of course, Shino-chi." He smiled, kissing her forehead.

[0:20 until data dump complete]

"I don't want to die, Kirito!" Shino cried, hugging him tighter.

"I don't want to die either, Shino," He whispered into her ear.

[0:15 until data dump complete]

"I love you, Shino," Kirito said, beginning to cry again.

"I love you too."

Kirito kissed her forehead and pulled slightly away from the girl, gazing into her warm brown eyes.

[0:10 until data dump complete]

"Shino, if it wasn't for you I probably would've died or lost my mind a long time ago," He stammered, [5] "Because we were here together [4] this past year is the only time [3] I've really felt alive [2] in my whole life."

[Data dump completion imminent]

Shino was sobbing now but it wasn't for her fear of death, "I LOVE YOU!" she yelled, and kissed him with all the passion of all the love they might have shared were they not about to die.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _Yeah… I'll just let that sink in…_

…

_Okay, first off, the story __**will continue.**_ _Secondly, if you liked the fic up to this point you will probably like the next chapter as well. Thirdly, The Archery Skill is no longer on hiatus… (yay)_

_I'm going to make a point to_ _**update as soon as possible**_ _after I'm done with the next chapter of Heart of Lead (Shameless self-advertising)_

_I'd like to give a big thank you to my cool as heck beta readers __**~Mauriot**_ _and __**~Xyzantylzethyrioses**_

_And hey, if you like something about this chapter… or dislike something about this chapter… or if this chapter makes you feel, like, literally anything (or even nothing at all) leave a __**review**_ _or __**P.M.**_ _me. It really does make a difference._

_Okay, this is the last thing, I promise. To all of you who have checked out the __**Sinoto**_ _community: Thank You. It's because of awesome people like you that Sinon X Kirito is now, officially, the best pairing._


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